Die for the cause
by Illuviar
Summary: The Citadel Council - an organization tasked with maintaining the peace, stability and prosperity of the known galaxy, it is a task they it had mostly excelled at since the Krogan Rebellions. The Councilors have the weight of the galaxy upon their shoulders and have to constantly balance the needs and interests of their governments and people... Competent Council AU.
1. Prologue

**AN: This is an idea for another ME story - no crossover this time. What if the Council was actually reasonably competent and busy trying to keep the peace and stability that ensured the galaxy prospered ever since the end of the Krogan Rebellions. While Shepard will be special and will have a place to shine, this won't be much of a HFY story, more of the Turians and Council Fuck Yeah.**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

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**Prologue: Case Black**

**=DC=**

**Part 1**

**=DC=**

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**21.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**Council Chamber**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

Councillor Trest Sparatus stood at parade rest and counted backwards from ten to zero in an attempt not to explode at the petulant children that were the Humans, especially the sorry lot that passed for their politicians. He managed to keep his composure until Tevos could not so gently deny Udina's ridiculous demands and promise him a hearing over the frankly insane accusations and cut the link before slamming a fist into the reinforced corner of the table where the Councillors usually met. The loud metallic clang and the feeling of the solid surface vibrating under his clenched talons made him feel better. It was only the Spirits damned Batarians who could consistently drive him close to the limit of his patience with a gusto rivalling the Humans.

"Don't you dare!" Sparatus sent Rhin Valern – possibly the best Salarian Councillor he had to serve along with, a deadly glare.

The amphibian's huge eyes merely widened a fraction, though his amused grin never wavered. "I don't need a recording to remember this to my dying day." Within a blink, Valern was all business. "Geth attack on Human colony most concerning." His fingers flew over the secure terminal built into his corner of the table. "Death of Spectre Kryik regrettable. Accusationsabout Arterius' involvement with the Geth..." The Salarian's voice quieted beyond the Turian's ability to hear.

"More human idiocy, I'm tempted to say." Sparatus let out a long sigh and sat down. "Why did they have to pick up the worst traits of Asari politics?!" He asked rhetorically.

"They aren't all bad. Besides, despite trying very hard they haven't even come close to our worst." Their resident Asari decided to damn the Humans with a faint praise. That wasElis Tevos in a nutshell – always apparently soft and diplomatic, however below the surface she was pure battle steel – otherwise she wouldn't have been able to not only remain a Councillor for centuries now but retain her sanity. There were days Sparatus couldn't stop wondering why people kept underestimating her, even Asari who by all means should have known better.

"Are you telling us this because they superficially appear and often act as Asari maidens or because your niece hooked up with one and you still aren't down from happiness about their brat?" Sparatus hummed.

"I do have a recording of you dragging us both to show us those pictures complete with all that cooing..." Valern briefly looked up from his terminal.

"Stress relief." Tevos glibly replied. "It was good for the soul." She nodded at herself before straightening up and leaving the levity behind. "What do we actually know about the events on Eden Prime?"

"Geth involvement beyond any doubt." Valern begin his traditional rapid-fire speech, which he did every time he was serious. "Presence of Super Dreadnought most concerning." A image materialized above the table. "Do note radical difference in design between it and known Geth warship models, including those seen at Eden Prime."

"Somehow they knew about the Beacon too. It was no accident they hit a human world, much less this one." Sparatus grumbled. "We need to find and seal that leak, permanently." I wasn't like the discovery had been a public knowledge that could be gleamed from merely monitoring the extranet. He didn't know what would be more concerning – that the Geth could have good enough penetration of Human systems to get the data from there, considering that Human space was practically on the other side of the galaxy from the Perseus Veil, that they managed to do have their wicked AI way with Council computer networks or worse, that it was all Saren's fault...

"STG already working on it. Will task Spectres once we've dealt with the Arterius issue..." Valern continued half-lost in his own world.

"To be the devil's advocate as the humans say, what if Saren is actually involved?" Tevos inquired.

That question, coming from Elis of all people gave Sparatus a pause. "You know something, don't you?"

"I've heard certain rumours that Matriarch Benezia got fed up with his more extreme actions and went to speak with him. She has always been a most perceptive woman."

"You're concerned about her suspicions then." The Turian's mandibles twitched in frustration. "Of course, Benezia hasn't deigned to inform anyone of what exactly made her concerned enough to go to one of our Spectres without giving us a call first…" Sparatus let out a long suffered sight at Asari Matriarchs in general and their usual belief that they could do no wrong. "Can you contact her?"

As soon as he asked, Tevos' activated her omni-tool. Soon she shook her head in the negative and frowned. It wasn't unheard for Matriarchs to go to ground for some peace and quiet… or when they were up to various shenanigans and didn't want to be caught. Tevos knew one thing for sure, the Benezia she knew wouldn't be a part of a Geth attack on anyone, much less a Council Associate species. That meant she had failed and was either up to something else, a captive or dead. None of those possibilities made Tevos feel any better.

"In the unlikely case Saren has indeed gone on the deep end, I'll nail his carcass to the Citadel Tower myself." Sparatus growled. "We're getting the Spectres and C-SEC to look into his actions and movements, just in case. I won't look like an idiot in front of the bloody Humans. Do you agree?"

"As I said, STG's on it already. If Saren's rogue, he might have an accomplice or two within the Spectres." Valern pointed out. "Do we want to show we suspect he might be rotten and as importantly, do we want to give C-SEC clearance to look through his affairs?" The Salarian managed to spare a meaningful look to each of his colleagues between his furious typing and high-speed reading.

"Get the C-SEC go over his less sensitive affairs. We'll use them as a screen to persuade Udina we take his people's concerns seriously. Meanwhile, we'll have STG and the Spectres carry on the real investigation." Tevos suggested.

"I agree." Sparatus nodded.

"That makes three of us. Motion carried."

"I'm calling in Vasir. Through her links with the Shadow Broker she might be able to dig up intelligence faster than most."

"If she isn't already in his pocket." Sparatus' jaw flexed in displeasure.

"Sooner or later the Broker will become more trouble than they're worth it and we'll deal with him." Valern dismissed his Turian colleague's concern.

"Him?" Sparatus raised an eye-ridge in speculation.

"Him." Valern nodded rapidly and refused to shed any more light about the identity of the most illusive beings in the galaxy.

"I'll let it slide for now. The Geth and their new fancy ship. Is it a new design of theirs or something they salvaged? If its Protean in design if not in fact, that might explain why they went for the Beacon." Sparatus changed the topic. When Valern was like that, there was no persuading him to share more information.

"You think they found something old beyond the Veil?" Tevos' eyes widened at this idea. It wasn't something she had considered… Yet, why not? A great deal of mainstream technology was either reverse-engineered or at least based upon bits and pieces recovered from the Proteans or other, older species. If the Geth had found either an ancient super-dreadnought or the schematics for one and built it themselves, it would explain why they would suddenly break their self-imposed isolation in search for more pieces of ancient technology. Tevos certainly hoped that the Geth found said ship and didn't build it themselves, because the industrial and technological might that implied was enough to give her sleepless nights.

"That's what I hope for." Sparatus muttered and his bearing made it clear he shared similar fears. "We need to neutralize the threat the Geth possess. To do that we need raw data – are they merely interested in Protean relics or is this the opening stage of a full scale war? If we miscalculate we might be the ones starting said war."

"Such caution isn't something I often hear from a Turian, Trest." Tevos smiled softly.

"Caution?" Sparatus snorted. "We all know that our fleet is stretched thin keeping up with our security responsibilities, which incidentally is why we haven't done something about either the Batarians or the Terminus systems. A full scale war would be ruinously expensive too –something like that is going to tank the economy and if we are indeed going to fight it, I can assure you, my government will demand full support, both military and economic."

"The current crop of Dalatrases will balk at that." Now it was Valern's turn to grimace.

"Many of the Asari Republics would be divided at least initially." Tevos put her cards on the table too.

"So how do we fight a potential galactic war on a shoestring budget and with our arms tied behind our backs if it comes to that?" Sparatus asked aloud.

"That's obvious – let the Humans bear the burden initially, while we gather more intelligence and do our best to put our houses in order. Offer reasonable support: intelligence, limited economical and military. But first, figure out do we have a rouge Spectre on our hands, something that might point towards much deeper problems..."

"I'm calling Vasir for a little chat. Then we'll see what will surface when she begins hunting."

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**=DC=**

**Part 2**

**=DC=**

**21.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**Spectre Offices**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

The inner sanctum of the Spectre Office on the Citadel was aptly named – despite what popular media and the general populace believed, it in fact resembled a high tech office on the inside. Desks, complete with the best workstations and security money could buy, secure file cabinets and data storage that would make the STG proud, access to raw data and intelligence from all over the galaxy… and more often than not the Spectres used the power at their fingertips to solve mundane problems.

A fine example was Jondum Bau's second case after being initiated into the Spectres – one of the companies responsible for supplying and maintaining the Citadel fleet had been skimming off the top. That bit of corruption got both the Matriarch in charge of the _Destiny Ascension, _her Turian counterpart commanding the largest part of the fleet and the Salarian Rear Admiral rounding up the small triumvirate responsible for space defence royally pissed off and aimed in the same direction, a feat in itself. Soon enough their displeasure got the attention of the Council and thus Bau received a new case. As a consequence, he spent the last week all but welded to his desk going over copious amounts of data gathered by C-SEC, STG and couple of fellow bored Spectres. Once he was done, Jondum was pretty sure a major corporation or what was left of it after the dust settled and all the arrests and trials were over would be eaten by its competitors. Perhaps a bit of investment for a dry day might be in order?

"Jondum my friend!" The entrance door slid open with its characteristic whine meant to announce an arrival and Tela Vasir of all people came in like a too cheerful a hurricane.

Bau pushed away from his desk and swing his rotating chair to face the rampaging Asari.

"We most certainly aren't friends, Vasir." He grumbled.

"Nah, your' my new best buddy! Come on, Council orders, we've got a few windbags to bag!" Vasir was too cheerful for comfort. What did she do this time?!

"Details!" Bau grumbled. He didn't need to look around to figure out that they had the undivided attention of the other five Spectres who were in the office space.

"As I said, a few of the old fossils back on Thesia apparently have their tentacles waist deep in the mess you're dealing with. They either tried to bribe or blackmail Tevos and she wasn't pleased so she's sicking us on them too!" Vasir actually bounced during that declaration. It was a public secret that certain Matriarchs within the Republics had various expectations both from the Asari Spectres and their Councillor, the kind that technically could be considered treason at the best of times. Spectre rumour had it that Tevos had been bashing heads with those for centuries now with mixed success.

"Come on! We've got work to do!" Vasir bounced again. She was excited enough to act like a maiden too, so this had to be the real deal.

"I'm coming." Bau grumbled and secured his station before following the sickeningly excited Asari to the armoury.

Once inside and alone, Vasir locked down the place and used her omni-tool to activate her electronic counter-measures and gestured him to do the same.

"This is more serious than Asari Matriarch being their insufferable selves?" Bau focused his attention on Vasir's expression. The moment the counter-measures went into effect her excitement died a sudden and unlamented death.

"Nihlus is dead. The humans claim it was Saren who shot him and led the Geth attack on Eden Prime. The frigate that was supposed to haul him and the beacon here is on its way with the survivors from the ground team sent to recover it and what preliminary evidence they managed to gather. They'll be granted a meeting with the Council on arrival so we have about eighteen hours to figure out if Saren has let his hatred to humanity get the better of him. C-SEC will provide political smoke screen and we along with STG are doing the real work."

Bau blinked rapidly in shock while processing the news. It was obvious why Vasir lied – if Saren was dirty… "I'm the newest Spectre, least likely to be compromised by Saren if he's gone rogue." Jondum nodded.

"First, we're checking where he has been, where he is supposed to be and as Sparatus of all people suggested – if he had went to or near the monitoring stations watching the Perseus Veil."

"That Geth fleet had to come from somewhere and the first warning we got was the news after the attack was over." Bau frowned. "They either uncovered a new route that allowed them to reach human space, infiltrated and neutralized our outposts meant to warn us..."

"Or someone, like a possible rogue Spectre made sure there was a hole in the gird for at least long enough that their fleet could slip through."

"I'll go over his known movements. If he's rogue and planned things well, we might be unable to uncover conclusive evidence fast enough. Eighteen hours?" Bau's frown deepened. "If he has Geth support, any and all electronic records about him questionable…" He began to mutter to himself while going over scenarios and ways to expose anything irregular.

"Good, you're on the ball. I'm going dark for a few hours to meet certain contacts." She handed him a small data drive. "If I go missing or turn up dead, open this. You'll be able to figure out how."

"Those rumours about the Broker are true then?" Jondum refocused his attention upon his colleague.

"It has been a mutually beneficial relationship so far. Tevos at least is aware and I'm pretty sure Valern knows all about it too. They haven't asked me to go after the Broker so far."

"It has too much blackmail to release if dead or captured to make it potentially not worth it as long as their operations aren't too much of a disruption." Bau concluded.

"The moment that changes, well..." Vasir shrugged. She certainly wasn't going against the Council and the other Spectres over the Broker, especially if it acted up first. "I'm aware Saren had dealing with the Broker before so it might know something of value."

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**=DC=**

**Part 3**

**=DC=**

**21.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**Rapid transit station K-21**

**Zakera Ward**

**The Citadel**

Vasir glided through the crowds giving the impression of being just one more haughty Matron among many. Her outfit – an expensive not quite formal dress but not the height of fashion, the way she walked and carried herself – there was no trace of the experienced and deadly Huntress in the sensual swing of her hips nor in the way she carried herself. It took Tela decades to be able to competently hide her true nature in plain sight. As always it was frustrating, especially the way the holster, gun and blade along her inner thighs chaffed, yet at that moment even a sophisticated biometric recognition program would have had a hard time picking her up within the crowd. True, the light skin-kissing mask that altered her features just enough helped too. Perhaps Vasir was paranoid, however even if she was far from convinced of Saren's guilt, given his close association with the Broker and long career as a Spectre, taking any chances would be foolish.

Tela slid into a nearby side alley once she had eyes on the closest rapid transit station, checked up to see if anyone followed her and once she was convinced the only living thing nearby was a Keeper slowly shuffling towards the far end of the alley, she activated a scrambler that would ensure a bit of privacy and called Barla Von – one of the top Broker agent's on the Citadel and her first stop in the quest for information.

"hsssk… Barla Von… hsssk… Miss Minerva, to what do I own the pleasure… hsssk…?" The banker slash Broker operative asked after checking the caller ID.

"I've heard a barefaced acquaintance of ours just became a very bad boy." Vasir's voice was silky velvet – a far cry from her real one.

"His accounts are suspended while we investigate accusations of corruption. We'll come back to you later, Ms Minerva. Have a nice day."

The channel went dead and Vasir removed the band of cheap omni-tool she used to make the call before turning it to dust with her biotics. A gesture deactivated the scrambler and she walked out of the alley moving straight towards the rapid transit station. All Von really told her was that the Broker had heard concerning rumours about Saren and his people were busy looking into it, just like she was. Until the Broker knew one way or the other or decided the heat was enough to cut its loses, it was unlikely she would get more information directly.

That left some of the less reliable Broker related contacts, like that slug Fist. A short, not too bumpy ride later, Tela dismounted at another RTS, this one just a few hundred metres from Chora's Den – Fists' personal den of debauchery. A pair of bored looking bouncers gave her a once over while she walked towards the entrance and waved her in.

Inside, Vasir grimaced at the assault against good taste that passed for modern music. Blinking headache inducing lights – check. Young scantily clad maidens and a few human women doing a sorry imitation of striptease on a stage above the bar and in not so private booths – check. The damned place hadn't really changed since the last time she had been in, was that two or three owners ago? At least the drinks used to be adequate, but she wouldn't hold her breath for it today. For a moment Tela was mightily tempted to go to the bar and get herself a very strong drink before she sighed puled back her shoulders just enough to emphasize her bust and put to work every little trick she had learned during her seven centuries as Huntress and later, Spectre.

Tela walked towards the back of the sorry excuse of a club and everyone who laid their eyes on her couldn't look away. She even saw a couple of the working girls give her jealous glares, the poor things and barely contained her snort of derision. The dancing crowd divided in front of her and in her wake people clamoured and pushed for a closer look. She put just a hint of extra swing to her hips and her smoky eyes searched for the guards protecting the back of the club. A Human and Batarian who were busy drinking her form – perfect.

"Boys..." Tela purred while eye-fucking them both. "I'm present for your boss by a very good friend of his." Her tone, the way she sensually twisted her lips in a smile holding so much promise and the aura of sex that simply radiated from her were more than enough to ensure those two already had blue balls. "Would you kindly help me surprise Fist?" She licked her lips and leaned forward.

Both of them were already enthralled and nodded vigorously. They couldn't open the door fast enough. The human even offered her his arm – such a gentleman. She wanted to laugh at how easy this was. If she pushed her biotics a bit more to reinforce the way she shifted the harmonics of her voice for maximum effect she might just break those two.

"Mike, Boros, what..." There were three more guards – all wearing light armour and had older but serviceable rifles and a shotgun in hand. All were male, two Humans and one more Batarian.

"She's present for the boss..." Mike let out a forlorn sight.

"You don't say..." The Human who apparently led the trio leaned forward to better examine her.

"What can I say?" Tela let out a throaty, needy purr. "Fist has a few very good and generous friends."

"I'm wondering if he's man enough to handle you." The second Batarian chuckled and leered at her.

"Well, if he isn't you might just get lucky tonight… A girl has her needs..." Tela looked him in each pair of eyes in turn and her own held all kinds of dark promises.

"Lucky bastard..." Boros groaned.

"Shall we? Let's not make Fist wait." Tela suggested.

"I would be pissed off if someone made me wait for you..." One of the so far silent humans nodded emphatically.

The guards fell around her and led her down a short corridor that contained various containers and a single door to the left.

"Boss, you've got a guest!" The leader of the second group laughed aloud.

"The hell?! I told you fools not to interrupt me! I'm busy damn it!"

"You don't want to make her wait, boss!"

"The fuck you're talking about, Mike?!" The door opened to reveal Fist in all his… glory.

Well, he wasn't actually bad looking, though being a Human and thus so similar to Asari certainly helped. Short black hair in what Tela recognized as a military haircut, high end medium armour painted black and glowing with additional shield emitters, a heavy pistol on his hip – a decent one too, not one of those expensive pieces of junk gun-shop owners made a fortune of selling to wealthy fools who didn't know one end of a gun from the other.

"Saren sends his regards for a job well done." Tela ensured her eyes practically shone with desire and she licked her lips in anticipation. "You've been a very good boy, Mr Fist and I'm here to reward you." Tela used he Biotics to rip the upper part of her dress down to mid-hip to reveal her leather underwear – that did more to accent her curves than to hide anything.

"Damn, that was fast..." Fist shook his head in wonder. "I just sent my people to deal with the girl."

Tela beamed at Fist. Jackpot!

She made a show of glancing at the guards who looked at her ass speechless and winked at them. The motion was calculated to give fist a great profile view of her breasts.

"Do you want me for yourself, Mr Fist?" She whispered and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Leave us alone and make sure that no one bothers us! I mean it! Scamper!"

"I so love men who know how to take charge..." Tela purred. The guards behind her gave out moans and sighs of disappointment but soon piled out of the room.

As if in trance, Fist walked towards her and went to grope her breasts. He took his hand in her own and cupped his cheek. "Tell me how good a boy you are, Mr Fist." Tela cooed and her biotics flared making her tone deeper. For a moment her eyes shone with power before turning pitch black as she pressed the side of her face to his.

"Embrace Eternity!" Vasir demanded and as their nervous systems touched she dove into Fist's mind.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 4**

**=DC=**

**21.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**Fist's office**

**Chora's den**

**Zakera Ward**

**The Citadel**

Vasir glared at the drooling and grinning like a fool human crumpled at her feet. She took what useful bits of information Fist had about Saren – which were barely enough to warrant investigation and left him with the impression of a session of the most amazing sex he had ever experienced. She pocked him with a toe. Perhaps it had been too impressive for his brain to handle. The Spectre grumbled in disgust, shed what was left of her dress and lifted Fish with her biotics long enough to grab his arm and activate his omni-tool. Now that she had his codes, it was a child's play to syphon all data he had available in the office. Some bored analyst backed by expert VI's would be going over the information. At worst, C-SEC would be happy and it usually paid to give them such morsels – more often than not, that whole institution was uncomfortable with the freedom of action and ability to disregard the laws Spectres enjoyed so it was a good policy to keep them happy when practical. That was doubly true when you were an Asari and could expect to be a Spectre for centuries yet.

A few minutes later, Vasir had syphoned all data from both the omni-tool and personal computer at Fist's desk, retrieved a few hidden data-disks containing all kinds of interesting information, primary blackmail and now it was time to decide what to do about the still drooling human. The most straightforward course of action was to call C-SEC, help them subdue the guards and hand them Fisk bow-tied.

Plan B was to erase any recordings of her being here and leave him a message that he would be even happier once a certain Quarian girl was dealt with – give him more rope to hang himself while monitoring his activities. Once said girl was in custody and it was clear why Saren wanted her silenced, it would be possible to arrange for Fist's goons to "kill" her in order to give both him and Saren the impression they got off clean.

Decision, decisions… Vasir accessed Fist's security system deleting her presence and inserting a few nasty worms made by the STG then went back to his desk where the Human had an old fashioned _paper_ notepad. She scratched a short message, dragged Fist up to his couch and put it on his chest. Now to secure a bit of clothing and make herself scarce. She had a kid to track down before she could get herself killed…

* * *

**=DC=**

**21.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**Docks**

**The Citadel**

Two hours later, Vasir arrived at the meeting place between the Quarian girl and Fist's men. To her utmost displeasure, she was too late and even C-SEC beat her there.

"Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." She flashed her ID to the pair of armoured Turians keeping a group of curious bystanders away.

"Ma'am." One of them nodded and sent a signal from his omni-tool that allowed her to pass through the laser barrier cordoning the crime scene without triggering an annoying alarm.

A Turian detective oversaw a pair of crime scene investigators who had drones hovering over three bodies busy scanning them.

"How long ago?" Vasir didn't waste time with pleasantries. Getting herself some proper gear, ensuring the data she salvaged – both physical or otherwise wasn't lost if something happened to her took her too long. It didn't help that for the time being the investigation had to be low key. On the other hand, even with the tip she gave C-SEC the moment she was safely clear from Chora's Den, hadn't been enough for a ERS team to get to the Quarian in time. On the bright side, the kid apparently had claws and wasn't afraid to use them.

"Three rather well equipped thugs. At a first glance they jumped the wrong 'victim'." The Turian's voice warbled in grim amusement. "One took a micro-grenade to the throat."

He jabbed a talon at a Turian corpse whose head was almost separated from the torso. It looked like only the armour kept it more or less in place. At a closer look, it was certainly less – the explosion had vaporized the throat and most of the lower jaw and mandibles were simply missing along with a solid chunk of the spine. Nicely done, Tela nodded in silent approval.

"This one," The Detective pointed at the next corpse, a Batarian this time, "got hit with a very powerful Overload that fried his shields and stunned him for a few moments. If I'm to guess, military grade tech. While he was incapacitated, the 'victim' used an automatic shotgun to turn this one's chest to jelly." Another finger jab, this time at the third corpse. It used to be a human and he used to have a torso that hadn't been a paste before his run in with the Quarian. "With him done, our Batarian client managed to recover and sent couple of bursts at our 'victim'." Yet another jab, this time towards a row of weapon within clearly labelled plastic bags that stood to the side awaiting pickup. "Polonium rounds, nasty stuff." The next jab was far to the right. "He managed to hit our 'victim' and go past their shields and armour. I'm still waiting for the camera records to be certain because of the radiological contamination, however we're rather sure the 'victim' is a she. Dextro, either Turian or Quarian. For her sake I hope Turian. Once the lab techs go over the blood sample we can give you more, ma'am. As you can see, the 'victim' wasn't happy at being shot and shotgunned our Batarian friend in the head."

The shattered helmet and missing face told Vasir that much.

"Get those recording yesterday, Detective. Your victim is a Quarian who is a person of interest. She has data we need. If you find her, approach her carefully and take her into protective custody. Don't let another Spectre approach her or arrange her release unless Palin has received direct orders from the Council – face to face."

The Detective's eyes widened at those orders. There were very specific circumstances when one Spectre could and should deny access to another.

"Case Black?" The Detective whispered just loud enough for Vasir to hear.

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 5**

**=DC=**

**21.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**C-SEC HQ**

**The Citadel**

At a glance, C-SEC was engulfed by controlled chaos – so situation normal, all fucked up as usual. Garrus Vakarian's mandibles twitched in amusement at the thought. It was too bad that he knew better. First, the Executor pulled him aside and gave him a new assignment – to look into the activities of not only a Spectre but Saren of all people! Council orders so no way to even protest the orders for even a rather bad Turian like him. If that wasn't bad enough, not only everything that Saren touched went classified way about Garrus' pay-grade, now C-SEC was busy looking for a missing Quarian girl – on a Spectre's orders and thus the Councils. The Detective didn't have to be a genius to figure out that the so far unnamed Quarian was very likely related to his own case and thus his time would be better spent helping the quiet search for the girl. Instead, he was stuck at his desk trying and _failing _to go over files that were so classified it was a small wonder his workstation hasn't melted due to Spectre level defence software. The fact he was trying to access said files with authorization from Palin and from the heart of C-SEC probably had something to do with the continued well being of his computer. Unfortunately, despite all he could do, the files remained locked and behind solid firewalls. The little Garrus could see without waiting for clearance from the Spectre office was routine, boring and totally legit. Even if it wasn't, the Detective lacked context to connect the dots.

"Progress?" An exhausted looking Chellick appeared at the door of Vakarian's small office bearing gifts – an energy drink with metallic content that would be pure poison for most species not native to Palaven.

"Spirits, there's enough red tape here to entangle the whole Citadel fleet and have spare for at least half of Home Fleet!" Garrus shook his head in disgust.

"We have nothing to show so Palin will be screaming at us all tomorrow." Chellick threw one of the drinks to Garrus who managed to snatch it before it could hit him in the jaw.

"Thanks for nothing, bastard." Garrus grumbled good naturedly to his partner.

"You're welcome. Cheers!" Chellick popped open his can and took a long swing. "Good, this might keep me awake until tomorrow."

"That isn't something I'm looking up to." Garrus glared at yet another access denied message and took a sip of his drink. The tangy metallic taste and weak legal stimulants certainly provided a kick in the pants. "You know, she'll be looking for a doctor if she's still alive."

"We have people at all major hospitals and called the smaller ones. No joy." Chellick pointed out. It wasn't like it was mass effect science or something!

"I mean there are smaller clinics that kinda rely on not calling us in order to continue to operate unmolested from local lowlifes, not to mention those patching up people without having an active license. She's a Quarian who someone jumped just as she arrived. Somehow I don't think she'll be running to Huerta Memorial."

"I certainly hope someone else had the same idea and hit our informants. Otherwise, you'll make us look like idiots..." Chellick trailed off and smirked.

"Yeah, rub it in. I'm still on shit duty after making Palin look bad." Garrus flipped his partner a one finger salute.

Chellick chortled and went to check if someone thought to check and perhaps put under surveillance the less reputable clinics and "doctors".

* * *

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**Human Embassy**

**Presidium**

**The Citadel**

Ambassador Udina's office was white, pristine and looked almost sterile. It gave the impression of a hospital room, perhaps an operating theatre raring to go – not what movies and common sense made Lieutenant-Commander Shepard to expect. At least the captain in his parade uniform didn't look too much out of place, however John himself and his squad – the survivors from Eden Prime in their fatigues felt distinctly underdressed. Unfortunately none of them had their dress uniforms on board – an understandable oversight considering that as far as anyone knew they were merely on the Normandy's short shake-down cruise. Needless to say, Gunny Williams came on board only with her weapons and armour. With the barracks on Eden Prime being struck from orbit, it was unlikely that anything personal she had ground-side had survived anyway.

"Understood, Councillor Tevos. We'll be there on time." Udina finished his chat with the Council and turned to glare at Shepard's team. John was tempted to glare back, however the short course in dealing with diplomats and other VIP civilians during his OCS had drummed into his head that pissing such off unless he had excellent reasons, wasn't a good idea. Of course, experience taught him that even if he had said reasons, stepping on political toes wasn't of the good. Not at all.

"Did you have to bring up your whole crew?" Udina asked Anderson and gave the three of them a dirty look.

"Merely the ground team from Eden Prime in case either you or the Council have any questions, Ambassador." The Captain smoothly attempted to defuse the situation.

"If your AARs are done right, there won't be such a need." Udina paused and his scowl deepened. "They have their I's dotted and T's crossed, right?"

"Of course, Ambassador." Anderson responded without missing a beat.

Udina glared at the stack of data pads and drives on his desk. "Not that it would matter."

Williams let out a sound of distress and disagreement – a proof she wasn't accustomed of dealing with politicians or high placed civilians. Udina's gaze snapped up and focused on the Sergeant.

"Do you find something funny, soldier?" The Ambassador snapped. "What about you, Shepard? You were supposed to be our first Spectre, you should have some skills in politics. At least enough to avoid most landmines."

"We did everything we could in order to complete the mission, Ambassador. Considering the unexpected opposition on the ground and the presence of an unknown super-dreadnought that could _land, _I don't see how we could have done better with the available assets. While Spectre Kryik's death is regrettable, he wasn't under my authority. I couldn't give him orders. When he decided to go ahead alone, I had no acceptable recourse but to let him go. I couldn't very well detain him."

"That won't be good enough for the Council. And this 'evidence' about Saren." Udina snorted.

"The bastard has had it in for us ever since the First Contact war!" Anderson snapped.

That certainly surprised John. This was the second time he saw the Captain's composure crack and it was when Saren was mentioned. Did the two of them have a history or something? That was the only plausible explanation he could think of.

"Perhaps. That's not how the Council would see it. We're going to accuse one of their golden boys of consorting with Geth and committing an act of war. The _evidence_? Testimony from a criminal who slept through the initial attack and lets not forget, he has been keeping busy stealing and selling military hardware meant for the garrison!" Udina's sneer was as impressive as the amount of venomous sarcasm he could put into his words without raising his voice. "Not to mention that said dock worker went missing when the relief force showed up!" This time the sneer was pointed at Shepard.

"We didn't have enough people to leave someone to babysit him and given the circumstances on the ground, locking him up in place would have been a death sentence." Shepard coolly explained. He thought about it but didn't add that disarming those nuclear charges at the star-port had been close enough even when he brought his whole unit there but held his tongue. As it is, only three people of the Normandy's original marine contingent were both alive and able to walk right now and one of them was the quartermaster who didn't leave the ship for the deployment on Eden Prime. That was clearly pointed out in the AARs.

"It doesn't really matter! A brain dead underpaid public defender would demolish that testimony!" Udina snapped. "And I'm expected to demand the Council strip Saren of his status and arrest him based on said 'evidence'!"

"There has to be more evidence we can find!" Williams made the mistake of opening her mouth and thus Udina turned to vent upon her.

"Really? Do you think anyone would let us come close enough to anything the Spectres have been in the general vicinity of to touch with a ten foot pole?! Of course, Parliament in their infinite wisdom doesn't care! It would be miracle if I can salvage your candidacy much less get the Council act against Saren on what we have yet they expect me to make a fool of myself!"

"Do we have any contacts that might help? There are couple of hours before the hearing, I know it isn't much, however..." Shepard trailed off. He wanted to ask why Parliament would force Udina to publicly act on such flimsy evidence, however he felt that this wasn't the time nor the place. Perhaps if he had a chance to speak with the Ambassador when he wasn't ready to bite off someone's head at the tiniest of provocations…

"In couple of hours? There's Harkin I guess – he's a C-SEC agent who knows all kinds of things. At least he might be able to point you at the C-SEC agents who are supposed to investigate Saren's activity. I hope for all our sakes that they were able to dig up something, because once the Council sees our 'evidence' I would be surprised if they don't put a stop of any and all investigations about Saren! Solid proof my ass..." The last was muttered low enough that Shepard wondered if he really heard it.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 6**

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**STG Safe-house**

**The Citadel**

As safe houses went, this one was quite nice – a whole flat within one of the more expensive hotels priding itself on guest comfort and more importantly, ensuring their peace and quiet. The balcony overlooked one of the largest market areas on the Citadel, which in turn was always quite busy, no matter the time of day or night and thus provided crowds to get lost into. It was also an alternative escape route if you were a biotic or had the appropriate tech. Even a clamp and high strength cable could to the trick. A mixed smoke grenade or two can ensure no sniper would be able to nab you on the way down too.

The furniture was comfortable, expensive and not really to Vasir's taste, something she had the time to grumble about while staying low and watching Bau control various spy programs watching persons of interest and their activity. She itched to be out and doing something, however officially both of them boarder a ship to Thesia to deal with that corruption scandal. Besides, it wasn't like one more person on the ground would have an impact considering that currently C-SEC was like a kicked off swarm crawling all over the station looking for their little illusive Quarian. It was just a matter of time before they located her, the only question was if it would happen before the Council meeting with the Humans in an hour and if she would be still in one piece when they got her.

The Spectre shifted to be more comfortable on the sofa she was sprawled on and looked back at Jondum. The Salarian was at his element – typing furiously on multiple virtual keyboards and surrounded by three primary monitors with a few smaller holographic windows open around him. His eyes darted from screen to screen and Tela could swear the VI helping him had trouble keeping up. It was most amusing to watch, at least in small doses. A day or two of this and despite all here training and experience, Vasir would be climbing the walls and needing to shoot something as stress relief.

"Wegothim!" At least that was what Tela thought Bau shouted at him – it was too fast for her translator to properly get and her Salarian was quite rusty, especially given Jondum's accent.

"Who and how?"

"Saren! Just sent a message to Fist!" Thankfully, Jondum slowed down to merely a thousand words a minute. "It's a hit on any and all Normandy ground crew who were on Eden Prime! Primary targets – Lieutenant-Commander Shepard, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams! Payment details, hit-men to contact..."

"That's a nice start!" In a flash, Vasir was behind Bau looking at the relevant intercepts. It didn't exactly implicate Saren in consorting with the Geth and leading them on Eden Prime, however arranging the murder of a Council Associate military personnel, especially those who just arrived from fighting said Geth was damning. Certainly enough to yank him back to the Citadel so Vasir and company could ask some pointed questions and if he refused…

"Contact the Council – they need to know about this. Give me Shepard's location – he'll likely be with the other two. I'll make sure they don't get killed before we get to the bottom of this!"

"I'm already compiling a report. Implications most concerning…" Jondum shot back.

* * *

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/**

**Council Chamber**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

The Councillors were back in their usual meeting room, discussing how to play their meeting with Udina in order not to make any more of an international accident than the Human's accusations would engineer, when a priority message reached Tevos' omni-tool. A moment later, the same happened to her colleagues.

"That's never a good sign." Sparatus sighed and flicked his wrists thus activating his device. A few lines of authorisation codes later he wanted to strangle a certain barefaced bastard.

"Vasir has the right idea. Shepard getting assassinated just before or after our meeting with Ambassador Udina could be most disruptive.

"Do we recall Saren in to explain himself or give him enough rope to properly hang himself?" Tevos asked in a deceptively calm tone.

"If he hasn't just let his power and hatred of humans get the better of him and is in fact traitor, he won't come anyway. Better keep his official status up for now and monitor what resources he taps, perhaps find out his location as well." Valern suggested. "Unfortunately, grabbing him for interrogation or neutralizing him won't be a low key event. Must assume a Geth naval force and that dreadnought on station to protect or extract him."

"A major fleet action. We don't know the capabilities of that ship. Overkill highly recommended." Sparatus nodded. This was going to get messy and if properly mishandled, they would be clearing the said mess for years, perhaps decades to come.

"We'll use the Humans as a diversion as previously discussed. Unless they have solid evidence about Saren's presence on Eden Prime, we'll dismiss their claims for the time being. Promise further investigation to soothe ruffed feathers." Tevos nodded.

"What about Shepard's candidacy?"

"Opposition on Eden Prime extreme and unexpected. Needs proper evaluation." Valern voiced his opinion.

"We assign one of the Spectres we sick on Saren to monitor him. Use said evaluation to soothe the Humans' pride after this coming meeting." Tevos suggested.

"That can work. I'll be playing the big bad inflexible Turian again, won't I? It's getting old, you know?" Sparatus grumbled.

"But you do it so well, Trest, I'm half convinced there might be a grain of truth." Tevos sent a half-smile her colleague's way.

"Har, har. We need to establish a proper naval task force to go after Saren once he surfaces with that fleet of his. If he hasn't lost his mind completely, he'll keep to the Terminus systems unless he absolutely has to be within Council Space. Sending a fleet there can spark a war and we're stretched too thin to protect most places that hive of scum and villainy can lash at..." Sparatus trailed off. "We'll need to mobilize some of the reserve citing the resurgent Geth threat. If we can buy enough time, we might just be ready to face the backslash when we have to go after Saren. Ideally, he'll come to us but I won't hold my breath." The grin he gave Tevos and Valern was all teeth. "Let's talk about paying for said mobilization."

"The Republic's would scream bloody murder and the Serise Council will lead the charge…" Tevos hummed deep in thought.

"STG itself is already on board. Our political leadership however… the current crop of Dalatrases are far from ideal." Valern's lips twitched briefly in an approximation of a grim smile. "Naval Command on the other hand is much more reasonable. They will be eager to send an additional task force or two to the Citadel Fleet – ships unique qualified for stealth insertion within the Terminus and locating Saren and his Geth."

"Speaking about money, once Saren is revealed to be part of the attack on Eden Prime, we'll need to pay at least part of the recovery bill, care for wounded and settlement to families who lost members during the action." Sparatus twisted the knife.

"We'll have to get some of that covered below board within funding the activation of reserve units." Valern nodded and the two of them looked expectantly at Tevos.

"I will have to burn some political capital back home and possibly blackmail a few Matriarchs." Tevos sighed. "This is going to be so troublesome, I just know it..."

"We're agreed then. We will hold on calling Case Black on Saren for the time being, however we're sending STG, the Spectres and if I know my Primarch, Blackwatch after him in force. They'll go after his assets, try to unravel his plans and find him so we can drop a proper fleet on his head." Sparatus nodded. "Then if I could only get my talons in that barefaced..." He began muttering quietly before catching himself. "With Saren likely a traitor or insane, we have to assume everything he has touched is suspect. Everything he knows – either the Geth, perhaps even the Shadow Broker, know. Codes, CDF contingencies, the Spectre's are compromised at least to a certain extent… potentially our own security too. We'll have our hands very busy over the next few months."

"Sound like a plan." Valern nodded too. "And I do share your concern. The STG will be engaging Burnout Protocols as far as Saren is concerned."

"Just for the record, some days, like say, today, I hate you both." Tevos added her own nod. "I do agree in general. We'll have Vasir go after Saren on the Spectre front with Shepard trailing her as her trainee. Bau will coordinate clearing up house and enacting the Case Black contingencies within the Spectre office."


	2. Chapter 1 Parts 1&2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Of cops and spectres**

**=DC=**

**Part 1**

**=DC=**

* * *

**22.04.2183 GS**

**Council Audience Chamber**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

The audience chamber was cavernous – as tall if not taller than the hangars of the largest carrier Shepard had been onboard. It was situated at the top of the Citadel Tower and in fact it took most of its upper floors. The chamber itself vaguely resembled a steep canyon surrounded by open terraces and walkways that were ideal for a lot of spectators to cram in relatively easily controlled spaces and little to no cover on the upper levels making it practically impossible to sneak a sniper there. That is not to say that there was a lack of snipers – at least some of those were visible along their spotters and they all wore armour painted in C-SEC's colours. Marginally less conspicuous lightly armoured or even merely uniformed agents walked all over the place. Shepard was sure that there were multiple heavy armed and armoured fast response units just out of sight ready to pounce in case of an emergency.

Even down there, where mere mortals who went to petition the Council instead of diplomats and functionaries merely there to watch the show from various upper floors, it was evident that the whole place had been designed with security in mind. Oh, there were small copses with all kinds of trees – some endangered species even, more that a few fountains, yet behind this outward display of grandeur hid a simple truth. Those trees and strategically placed shrubs would offer concealment for defending forces and nicely cut the line of sight leading towards the podium where the Council usually appeared. The multiple stairways, placed in such a way that you had to walk around tall enclosures with flora meant that defenders not only had clear if relatively short lanes of fire but solid cover if they needed to retreat to the next level.

"Those are some nice shooting galleries down here, sir." Williams commented as they turned the corner around the third stairway with only four more to go.

"I made four obvious sniper teams without even trying." Alenko added. "And I won't be surprised if there are pop-up turrets and armoured walls to further constrict access and bleed attackers dry."

"Some of those decorative panels are just the right shape and have curious spacing, don't they?" Shepard nodded at one such as he passed it.

"It may be just in case they need to keep the politicians in to get stuff done." Williams joked.

"If they're anything like our Parliament, I won't be surprised." Alenko agreed.

Shepard began to wonder if he should begin to pay attention to domestic politics again – ever since he became N7 couple of years ago, he had better things to spent his brief free time on. However, if his Spectre candidacy actually came through, he would need to pick up the slack in that regard, not only about back home but galaxy wide too. That certainly wasn't something he looked up to, though right then and there such a possibility appeared rather remote.

As they approached the heart of the audience chamber, Shepard blanketed his face off any emotion. From down here it certainly looked much more impressive and different from what little he had seen on the news. Usually they displayed images captured from much higher with better angles. From the bottom it felt like the Council was making a statement about who was in charge. It certainly wouldn't help anyone's composure to have to look couple of stores up when speaking with the Councillors "face to face". On the other hand, the Council didn't even try to sell an illusion of the big three being anything approaching equal to the Associate Members… something that caused a lot of grumbling as he understood it.

They found Captain Anderson at the foot of the last stairway leading to the petitioners platform with Udina already up there and reading something from his omni-tool.

"Shepard, just in time. It's about to begin." Anderson nodded in approval. "No issues I hope?"

"We're all good, sir."

"Good."

The ever present noise of hundreds of speaking being picked up for a bit before a chime sounded hushing any and all conversation. The general lighting dimmed a bit while the Councillors arrived on their raised podium.

"Good afternoon." The Asari Councillor smiled pleasantly and spoke in a soft, soothing voice that nevertheless carried. "This meeting was requested by Humanity's Ambassador in order to discuss the unprovoked Geth attack upon the Human Colony of Eden Prime. We've seen your evidence, Ambassador Udina. The Geth's reappearance and hostile actions are of great concern and will be addressed with all due diligence. However, I'm afraid that the came cannot be said about your allegations towards Spectre Saren Arterius. There is nothing to indicate his involvement with either the death of Spectre Kryik nor the attack itself." She subtly turned her head to the Turian on her right, a gesture that made light dance upon her skin and make it look as if her facial tattoos flowed from pink to white and back again.

"An investigation by Citadel Security has turned no evidence, much less something that could support your charge of treason. While the time they had was certainly limited, in light of the evidence you presented, or should I say, lack of, I see no reason let this witch hunt continue."

From where Shepard stood, he couldn't see Udina's expression, though he was sure the man was scowling at the Council. Up on the platform the Ambassador stood alone and perhaps it was an intentional trick of the light, however he looked small and tired.

"An eyewitness saw him shoot Nihlus in cold blood!" Udina raised his voice, putting an accent on the dead Spectre's name.

While Shepard was no expert in politics, much less of this level, he could understand putting a face and name to one of the victims. The average citadel citizen might not have heard of Eden Prime before, much less knew where it was. Hell, even with all he was required to know on the top of his head, Shepard himself couldn't put a name and location even to a fraction of alien colonies, not even most of the Human ones if they weren't of particular interest to him personally.

A very brief commotion followed as some of the spectators got blind-sided by Udina's words. However, the Salarian's clear if rapid speech cut through the already dying chatter like a knife.

"We've reviewed your reports, Ambassador. The testimony of a single, traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling proof. A dockworker that your relief force couldn't locate upon arrival at Eden Prime. All we have is camera recording from Commander Shepard's ground team." The Salarian's eyes flickered down to John before refocusing on Udina. "The same recording that casts doubt upon that man's character. Slept through the attack? Stole from equipment shipments to your garrison and then sold military grade weaponry and explosives? That is all the proof you have?" The Salarian shook his head.

Shepard had to agree and he wasn't alone. From what he gathered earlier, Udina himself wasn't a fan of going forward with this course of action. He really needed to have a word with the Ambassador. Doubly so if a miracle happened and he somehow became a Spectre.

A towering hologram flashed to life to Shepard's left. It was of a Turian with no face paint and a very obvious artificial arm.

"Thank you, Councillor Valern." The intangible image gave the newly named Valern a respectful nod.

Then he turned towards Udina and the sheer disparity of sized made it appear as an angry god just stepped from up on high to chastise a sinner. Shepard had to give the Council this much – they knew how to put up a show.

"I resent these unfounded accusations!" Saren's voice thundered all over the audience chamber. "Nihlus was a fellow Spectre, more importantly…" The Spectre's voice suddenly dropped and got a mournful tang to it. "… a friend."

Disregarding any and all protocol, Anderson took the few steps separating him from the petitioner's platform in moments and glared at Saren.

"That merely let you catch him off guard!" He accused.

"Ah, Captain Anderson." Saren scoffed. "I should have known. You seem to always be involved when Humanity makes false charges against me." The Spectre put up an impressive sneer and pure condescension dripped from every word. The look he gave Anderson was one better suited for something nasty one might scape from the soles of their boots. Saren paused to survey his audience and now it was his turn to look at Shepard. "And this must be your protegee." Saren's sneer picked up a notch and he crossed his arms. "The same one who let the beacon be destroyed and my friend get murdered. I'm not impressed. If this is the best Humanity has to offer, it should be obvious to all that your people aren't ready!" The Spectre scoffed.

Sounds of both approval and disapproval came from the spectators up on high.

Shepard wisely kept his thoughts to himself. Frankly, he himself wasn't convinced that Saren was behind Eden Prime and the only thing he had personally against Saren as of now was the way Anderson disliked him and his current offensive behaviour. The Turian might just be attempting to deflect the blame, or perhaps he was genuinely pissed off at the accusations.

When Saren saw John wasn't about to take the bait and make a fool of himself, he continued to needle him. "Your species needs to learn its place, Anderson, Shepard. You aren't ready to join the Council! You aren't even ready to join the Spectres!"

"He has no right to say that! It's not his decision to make!" To Shepard's surprise, Udina didn't miss a beat and immediately jumped in his defence. He put out a rather impressive snarl too.

"Ambassador Udina is correct." Tevos spoke in a calming tone. "Shepard's admission to the Spectres isn't the purpose of this meeting."

"This meeting has no purpose!" Saren barked. "The Humans are merely wasting your time, Councillors!"

"That is not your decision to make, either, Saren." Was that a hint of gentle rebuke in the Asari's voice?

"My apologies, Councillor Tevos. The murder of my friend and these baseless accusations have my temper frayed today." Saren apologized. He sounded humble too.

"It is understandable, Saren." Tevos nodded and turned her attention back to Udina. "Have your people on the ground found any new evidence that wasn't in the reports you sent us before this meeting?" She asked.

"Unfortunately no, Councillor. The investigation on Eden Prime is still in progress. As of half hour ago, there had been no surviving cameras and data drives that caught more than a glimpse of the Geth. We will forward any and all data recovered from the destroyed enemy platforms as well as samples of their technology as soon as practical." Udina admitted.

"If this is all then..." This time it was Anderson who interrupted the Council.

"My apologies for speaking out of turn, Councillor, however there is still one outstanding issue." Anderson glanced at Shepard and sent him an apologetic look. "Commander Shepard's vision."

Now the whole chamber became deadly silent and everyone focused their eyes upon John. To say that he felt uncomfortable it would be a charming understatement.

"A vision?" Saren chortled. "Are we taking this seriously now? How can anyone profess their innocence against this kind of testimony?"

"I must agree. We can only act on facts and evidence." The Turian Councillor announced. "Not speculation. I've read your after action report, Commander. You yourself wrote that the partial vision you received made no sense. While it does you credit that you survived it, no one I've seen even suggests Saren was on Eden Prime, much less leading the Geth. For all anyone knows, what you remember of it might be just stress induced dream. After all, you just had fought on a battlefield where machines were busy slaughtered organics." The Councillor sent Anderson a pointed look.

"Unless you have anything else to add, Commander Shepard?" This came from the Salarian, Valern.

"The vision doesn't make any more sense now than it did a few hours ago after I awoke and wrote my AAR, Councillor. If it wasn't for the beacon, I would have chalked it up as a dream caused by the fighting on Eden Prime. As it is, I deemed it notable enough to add it to said report. It is not for me to decide how credible it is. That was my first encounter with a beacon and I hadn't studied Protean tech."

"Your diligence and adherence to duty is admirable, especially when doing the right thing might cause questions as to your current mental state." The Turian Councillor gave Shepard a nod of respect, something that caught him off guard.

"Thank you, sir." John responded on autopilot.

The Councillors looked at each other and for some reason Shepard was convinced they could hold a whole conversation with merely a look or a few subtle gestures.

Tevos turned to look at Udina then the gathered spectators. "This Council finds no evidence of Spectre Saren Arterius involvement in the events on Eden Prime. Ambassador Udina, your petition to remove his Spectre status is denied. The C-SEC investigation in his affair is at its end."

"I am glad to see justice was served. You have my thanks, Councillors. I am as always at your disposal." Saren bowed and cut off the connection from his end.

"We will meet later to discuss the resurgent Geth threat. Commander Shepard, as the ranking surviving military officer who had an encounter with the Geth on Eden Prime, please make yourself available for a debriefing about their tactics and capabilities. This meeting is now adjourned."

The Council took their leave followed by the spectators who were busy animately discussing the show. Only Udina remained behind, staring forlornly at the ground before he too left with his head bowed and dark thoughts running through his mind.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 2**

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS**

**Council Audience Chamber**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

Shepard, along with Anderson and his team waited at the foot of the stairs for the Ambassador. A sharp look was enough to silence his subordinates' grumbling, especially Williams'. Alenko, bless his soul, knew better than to vocally disagree aloud with the Citadel Council at this place, where everyone, especially journalists, could hear. It didn't help that Shepard himself couldn't really disagree with said Council's train of thought. The evidence was very thin and while no politician, he didn't know if they could have given it any public support the way it was presented. He wasn't happy at his CO either – Anderson practically threw him to the wolves by speaking aloud about his vision or was that merely a PTSD borne nightmare? The last thing he needed was another round of psych evaluations or worse, being stuck as Category Six.

"Well, this was hopefully both the lowest point of my career and the worst blunder the Alliance government ever made on the galactic stage." Udina scowled at Anderson. "For all our sakes!" He hissed venomously.

"Saren's a menace! We need to stop him!"

"You've done enough, Captain. It's clear you can't maintain the necessary emotional distance as far as that Turian is concerned. It's a miracle the Council didn't throw away Shepard's candidacy and that's something we should be thankful." He jabbed a finger at the Captain. "You're with me back to my office. We're about to report to our political lords and masters back at Arcturus to be chewed out for our 'failure' to do the impossible. As for you..." Udina turned to face Shepard and his team. He took a deep breath and visibly reined in his temper. "Go find Harkin and hope he has something we can use. And for God's sake, don't go slinging wild accusations unless you actually find some _credible _evidence. We're in a bad position already!"

"That's a most fascinating conversation you've got here." An alluring and quite amused voice interrupted them.

An Asari walked out of a shadowed corner nearby, where Shepard could have sworn no one could hide, much less sneak up to them on a such an open venue. "The Ambassador is right, this isn't the time or place. I can assure you, the walls here do have ears..." She tilted her head and smirked. "Sensors too."

Atypically for Asari, even those in their military, she wore quite the heavy armour that nonetheless was moulded around her to show her curves. It did look very functional nevertheless, which meant it was even more expensive than a comparable utilitarian design.

"And who are you, ma'am?" Udina asked pleasantly. There was not a trace of his temper so he was back under complete control.

"Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. That debriefing Councillor Tevos spoke about? It's about to begin. Commander Shepard and minions," She glanced at Alenko and Williams, you three are with me. I'm stealing you for the next few hours at least."

"No accusations that we got your friend killed?" Shepard sampled the waters.

"That's something the debriefing will cover as well. I knew Nihlus rather well. He was known for being quite the lone wolf." Vasir shrugged. "We aren't here to speak about him but the Geth. Do follow me, we don't have the whole day."

Shepard glanced at Anderson and Udina for guidance. The Ambassador gave him a thoughtful look and nodded in the direction of the Spectre.

"I hope you'll return our people intact, ma'am?" Udina asked.

"Bow-tied too if you want." Vasir's lips twitched.

"You're free to go, Commander. The Captain and I need to have a private conversation."

"Good, follow me." Vasir gracefully turned around and marched down the stairs.

Heavy armour or no, she put enough swing in her hips to fix everyone's eyes on her backside. It was a very nice ass too, very distracting as the Asari intended. Shepard shook his head and snapped his sight up then began looking around for anyone else he had missed. The fact that the Spectre came practically close enough to engage him in close combat without him being none the wiser offended his professional sensibilities. He had to remind himself that she potentially had centuries of experience on him, however that didn't really make him feel any better.

Vasir silently led them through a small bridge over a pond until they reached an unremarkable door – just like the rest lining the walkways around the chamber. She swiped her arm in front of her with her omni-tool activated for a brief moment. The door blinked green and slid open. Vasir strode in and waved them to follow.

They found themselves within a long corridor and a few moments after the door behind them closed, two others opened – very well concealed in the walls too. A group of four Turians appeared in front of them, their leader nodded at Vasir and took point. Shepard didn't need to glance behind to figure out that another fire-team was behind them.

"Is there a problem, Spectre?" John suddenly felt very naked and vulnerable in only his fatigues. All he had for protection was a weak shield emitter and a service pistol – nothing to write home about. The same was true for his people, with Alenko's biotics being their only possible edge, however he didn't like the LT's chance against an Asari Spectre. If those two went off against each other in such a confined space, Shepard and Williams would become smears on the walls and ceiling.

"In a manner of speaking. I do have a good and bad news for you, Commander. However, it will need to wait until we're into a secure room."

Shepard could feel Alenko's and William's eyes staring into his back and he made a small gesture telling them to stand down for now all the while he looked around for any and all possible advantages. The eight Turians – not C-SEC, those were fleet marines, were surprising and given the disparity in equipment as dangerous if not more than the Spectre. If it came to a fight then and there, Shepard knew that it wasn't a question if he and his people would go down, merely how many of the bastards they could take with them. On the other hand, both the Ambassador and Captain knew they came with Vasir, so it didn't make sense that this was a hostile action… unless she was working with Saren and he was indeed behind Eden Prime. Doubt and adrenaline raced through Shepard's veins and he was ready to explode at a moment's notice.

"Calm down, soldier. If I wanted you dead, I would have found a less conspicuous way to pull it off." Something in Vasir's voice had a calming effect on Shepard, which by itself given the situation was concerning. "We're here."

The corridor ended with a door, which the leading Turian opened then went inside along with two of his people and swept it for hostiles, then made an omni-tool scan. "It's clear ma'am. We'll make sure you aren't disrupted." The soldier saluted and took position flanking the door.

"Come on it." Vasir walked in.

Shepard shrugged and followed. This better be good.

The room was a comfortably furnished conference one – a long wooden table in the centre surrounded by leather chairs off a different kinds that could accommodate all known Council species.

"Take a seat, Shepard. Which one do you want, the good or bad news?" Vasir sat at the head of the table and nodded at the free chairs.

"I can use some good news right now." Shepard bit the bullet and went to sit to Vasir's right.

"This whole Council meeting? It was mostly for a show, though I don't know what your government was thinking accusing a Spectre with so little evidence." She shook her head in wonder. "I've been in charge of investigating Saren ever since we learned of his possible involvement with Eden Prime. While at this time we lack credible evidence about his presence there nor involvement, we did get enough to raise some questions to his mental stability at the very least. It was initially circumstantial – he wants a Quarian who arrived on the Citadel a day after the attack dead."

"That's thin indeed. Quarian doesn't necessary meant she has had a run in with Geth." Shepard nodded.

"Then, couple of hours ago, he ordered the assassination of all surviving crew of the Normandy who were deployed ground side on Eden Prime. You're the primary target, Commander."

"That's the good news?" Williams exclaimed.

"Yep." Vasir smiled at them.

"Do I dare ask what's the bad one?"

"You're still being evaluated for the Spectres. For my many sins, you're my problem now, Shepard. We're going to see if you're a proper Spectre material and if that's the case, you're going to make one of the best Spectres the galaxy has seen or die trying. First, we're going to find that Quarian girl and figure out why Saren wants her dead. Meanwhile, you're going to play bait so we can knock off a few hit-men and I can see if you're any good in a firefight for myself." Vasir gave him a critical look. "You'll need to gear up."

"What about my people?"

"That's why those nice marines are out there," Vasir nodded at the door. "The Council would appreciate if you don't get assassinated by Saren's people just after they officially cleared him of any wrongdoings."

"Hey, we're trained soldiers! We can help!" Williams exclaimed.

"You're giving him enough rope to hang himself." Shepard concluded after sending an admonishing look at the Sergeant. "She's right, you know. Besides, them I trust at my back. The jury is still out about you, Spectre."

"Good, you aren't quite as dumb as you look." Vasir nodded happily.


	3. Chapter 1 Parts 3&4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Of cops and spectres**

**=DC=**

**Part 3**

**=DC=**

* * *

**22.04.2183 GS**

**Council Audience Chamber**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

Among the spectators, a pair of Turians watched the proceedings with mixed feelings. One of them wore rather expensive suit in red and blue colours with white decorations. The other wore a light grey armour decorated with C-SEC's colours and logo on the chest plate and shoulders. He lacked helmet, though an eye piece provided targeting assistance and direct connection with his omni-tool. Both of them proudly wore the facial paint marking them as natives of the homeworld, though that and the fact that they were C-SEC officers was where the similarities between them ended.

"See, Vakarian? There was no need to do something as asinine as 'stall' the Council. Though I'll admit I'm pleasantly surprised that Saren hasn't let his power go up to his head. Damned Spectres..."

"If you say so, sir. So much wasted time..." Garrus grumbled.

"Serves you right. Now get back to work. We're still trying to find that Quarian who has the Spectres in a tizzy."

"Aye, sir. I'm going to hunt her down myself." Vakarian thought he did a credible job of keeping his sarcasm to himself as he left the Executor behind. He personally felt that there was something odd with Saren – call it a gut feeling if you will, however with no evidence to speak of… Heh, evidence. What possessed the Humans to make fools of themselves with this circus with the Council, Garrus would never know.

He headed towards the nearest elevator and activated his omni-tool. First he went over the ten priority messages – eight were from the Spectre Office, denying him access to files he needed to investigate Saren. He deleted those – it didn't matter any more. If Saren was dirty he was now the Humans and Council's problem. Garrus might be a bad Turian, however he was nobody's fool – he wasn't going to chase a Spectre on a gut feeling.

A message from Chellick was next – apparently only a few people had thought of looking at underground clinics or doctors. Garrus snorted at that – it didn't take a genius to figure out that a scared Quarian kid on the run wouldn't trust C-SEC nor one of the regular hospitals unless she collapsed and someone called and ambulance. A few hundred years of bad blood and prejudice on every side would do that he guessed.

The last message was from a Council aide officially terminating C-SEC's investigation. That was fast – a glance at the timestamp suggested the message was sent less than a minute after the meeting was over – while he was talking with Palin in fact. It shouldn't have been surprising. The Council had to know what the Human's evidence consisted of some time before the meeting and unless their Ambassador produced something new, well that whole circus had been a formality really. What a waste of everyone's time, bloody politics!

Next he came to the ordinary messages – a backlog of nearly a hundred, which accumulated while he was sealed within his office bashing his head against an electronic wall. A half of it was the usual spam and with that unpleasant revelation, Garrus made a note to update his filters. Two of his subscribed journals got new editions and their digital copies were in his inbox now – good, though it was another question if he would find the time to check them. A talon flick sent those messages within the appropriate secure folder for later review.

What was next – bills, more bills, a message of his landlord – the security of the building would be getting an upgrade next month, nice but probably it would come with a rent rise… Huh, a message from Dr Chloe Michaels – she ran a free clinic in the lower levels of Zakera ward. Another flick and his eyes flickered over the contents.

_Got an odd patient today. Quarian kid, shot with polonium rounds. She's delirious and scared. Please do drop by as soon as you can. She believes someone is after her and well, someone did shoot her with very illegal ammo. _

Well, wouldn't you know, he might just keep that 'promise' he just have Palin. But first, backup. There had to be a reason the Spectres "requested" the Quarian be found. Unless they were overreacting, that meant that either she was dangerous – which given her handiwork at the docks was a given or someone dangerous was after her.

"Guess, its both." Garrus muttered. He flicked on the call function of his omni-tool and called Chellick.

"Buddy, I think I found our Quarian or where she was earlier today. I'll need some backup on the quiet just in case. I'm sending you the address."

* * *

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS**

**STG Safe-house**

**The Citadel**

Jondum Bau was in his element – he swam in data and his assistant VI barely kept pace. Another, less capable one was busy sifting for anything useful from the data Vasir recovered during her meeting with Fist and surprisingly, what that VI found, broke his corruption case wide open. He opened a few new holographic windows and grinned manically. This certainly was a new venue of attack – payments, deliveries, data theft, smuggling… a pattern emerged and Bau's smile died.

"Citadel Dock control compromised." He muttered to himself. "That's why there was no recording of the Quarian arriving, neither a picture of her nor a recording of her encounter with the hit team!" He hit a few buttons and the VI did the rest – a new window appeared highlighting a payment with a time and service. The how was something he was very interested in – cameras shutting down should have sent alert to Dock Control. The frequency of smuggling and other irregularities in these files alone painted a grim picture. The system itself was compromised and there had to be someone on the pay in every shift… or worse, the whole staff mostly sourced from a daughter company of the corporation he was investigating, was compromised.

He compiled a message with his preliminary findings and sent them both to C-SEC and the appropriate people within CDF. Bau had the nagging feeling that his day would only become more interesting. He was proven right an hour later when his taps within both Fists organization and Barla Von's bank pinged almost simultaneously.

Naturally, he checked on the gangster first – he was the one trying to get their person of interest located and silenced after all.

"Well, that's simply embarrassing..." Bau twitched. Apparently Fist's goons had located the Quarian's trail before C-SEC. She had contacted him of all people to request a personal meeting with the Shadow Broker in order to negotiate unloading hot data. Fist wasted no time in dispatching some of his goon towards the clinic and just in case arranging a meeting deep within the lower levels of the wards.

"Vasir, I've got her! As of five minutes ago, our Quarian was at a clinic in Sub Level Seventeen, Zakera Ward. She just contacted Fist and he set her up to meet another hit team at the following coordinates…"

"Good work. Take control of all available cameras and get me eyes on our target. Time of the meeting?"

"In five hours. Fist has people converging on the clinic too. They might get her there if she leaves late."

"We're on it. Keep us apprised."

With Spectre credentials, taking control of the cameras in the area – the few operational anyway, was a child's play. There was a single Quarian visible and obviously male. Bau tagged him just in case and set a VI to monitor the feeds while he send his primary one to monitor the cameras in a much larger area around the clinic. Unfortunately, there were too many blind-spots in that part of the wards – probably intentionally and one of the reasons why said clinic was there – anonymity.

With the immediate task done, Bau opened the intercept on Von. Well, well. Saren and due to continuing to work for him, Fist, had betrayed the Shadow Broker. No details on said betrayal, unfortunately. However, the bleeding edge STG software monitoring Von managed to get the instructions hot – Von was to assist in bringing Saren down. That wasn't good for Von – even if Arterius almost certainly a traitor now, acting against him while still a Spectre all but guaranteed that the banker just became a high placed person of interest.

The other interesting piece of the instructions was an order to facilitate a hit on Fist and Saren's assassination once his Spectre status got stripped down… to be carried by no one else but Urdnot Wrex, who should be arriving on the Citadel within the hour. Wasn't that interesting… Bau could understand sending that particular Krogan after Saren – he was a tough bastard, anyone knew that much. But wasting his talents on Fist? Was that merely opportunism?

"Vasir, there is more that you should know. Your old friend Wrex is arriving shortly on the station, Aleena. Try not to bring the Citadel down around our ears, would you kindly?"

"You know about that? Heh, of course the STG knows… Those were good times… Flag Wrex when he arrives. I'll go make sure he doesn't do something particularly boneheaded..."

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 4**

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS**

**conference room**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

The hour after Vasir dropped her bombshells turned out unexpectedly mundane. Her pretext to pull Shepard and his squad out was in fact genuine and they spent answering insightful questions about the Geth and their ground units capabilities and tactics.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but wasn't most of this already covered by our AARs?" Alenko eventually dared to ask.

"It might very well be. It's still necessary and my questions might just jolt some detail out of you that you've overlooked in the heat of combat. I'm sure you're for the same dance once you're back to with your people." Vasir patiently explained.

The way she smoothly shifted from coldly professional, to light-heartedly flirtatious to a calm lecture mode was weird – as if speaking with three different people, yet Shepard had the feeling that was merely scratching the surface.

"Highly resistant to heat, you say?" The Spectre shifted back to professional debriefing mode. "Yet, if enough heat is introduced the fluid they use for hydraulics and power distribution boils and damages them even if the outer shell is more or less intact?"

"One of the specialized flamethrower units seemed to be fine after it got too close to a fuel depot. It's three buddies not so much and I'm sure at least one of those was intact safe for the fire." Alenko nodded. "The mission recorders should collaborate. It happened about an hour in the mission."

Vasir nodded and made a note on her omni-tool.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking for a Quarian or using the boss for a bait?"

Williams who has been mostly ignored so far eventually asked.

Vasir gave her a mischievous look. "A few more feet running around the station would make no difference. I have minions to do the legworks. A lesson time, Shepard." She turned to look at John. "With our authority, at least within Council Space, its highly recommended that we delegate. We can be only at one place at a time and running around unless we actually need to can ensure we are out of place to act when we need to. On the Citadel for example, C-SEC are duty bound to assist us. There is nothing we can do better in the actual search compared to the thousands of officers looking for the Quarian. Once we've got a credible lead, then we'll move." Vasir paused and returned her attention to the Sergeant. "Williams – those two Geth you lured in cannisters with liquid nitrogen and flash-froze before linking up with Shepard. Would you say that they were neutralized for good or merely temporarily taken out until their joints unfroze?"

"I don't know, ma'am. We didn't take the same path to the dig site after linking up. If we met those same units, there was no apparent sign of them being frozen."

"Something to think about..." Vasir jolted down the next note.

The pattern of her questions was obvious as well as the reason why she aimed said questions primary at Shepard and Alenko – both of them had engineering training under their belts, with Shepard's primary speciality before transferring to the N cadre being a combat engineer. During special operations training, his tech abilities were further refined too, something Vasir undoubtedly knew. That aligned with the nature of most questions – they primary concerned on Geth technology, raw capabilities of their platforms and how that stacked against Citadel equipment. While she did in fact ask about their tactics and said questions demonstrated she knew what she was doing, that was distinctly secondary in her priorities. The inquisition thus continued on and on.

"Overloads continued to be effective up to the end of the mission, especially when using customized program with enhanced omni-tool meant to increase their striking power. Hacking their weapons, sensors or even IFF was initially effective, however they adapted shortly. By the time we reached the beacon it was practically impossible to remotely disrupt their weaponry. I'm unsure if it was because they cut any external access or simply updated their cyber defences..." Shepard answered the latest question when Vasir got a most interesting call.

She was obviously using an earbud, not an implant because John was able to get her side of the conversation.

"Good work. Take control of all available cameras and get me eyes on our target. Time of the meeting?"

As she spoke, her bearing charged again. Now, she felt like a hungry predator ready to pounce. John wasn't sure how she managed to make such an impression by merely shifting in her chair, leaning a bit forward and _smiling. _

"We're on it. Keep us apprised." Now Vasir's attention shifted to Shepard. "We got our break. The Quarian was at a clinic in the lower wards as of a few minutes ago. She is being set up to meet assassins in a few hours. We're going to hit the clinic and if we miss her there, stake out the meeting place, take out the assassin and retrieve her to ask a few pointed questions."

"By we, do you mean you and the Commander, or all of us, ma'am?" Alenko asked. "If it's the latter, some gear would be appreciated."

"Lieutenant, you and the Sergeant would be escorted back to your ship. Once there I would recommend to gear up and stay put. The last thing we need is running battle between the two of you and some fool out for the bounty on your heads. As for the Commander, we got his measures from his file. There's a C-SEC ERS gear for him waiting. The last thing either the Council or your people need is further complications at this point." She nodded at a crate that has been innocuously sitting in the corner of the room this whole time.

"She's right. Get back to the ship, gear up, make sure that the walking wounded from our ground team are accounted and stay put on the _Normandy._ They should be busy writing AARs and answering similar questions from the brass." Shepard ordered.

"Aye, sir." Alenko got up a moment before Williams.

"The marines outside will arrange transport and security until you're on board your ship." Vasir got up as well and her omni-tool beeped. She tilted her head, listening to the incoming message. "You know about that? Heh, of course the STG knows… Those were good times… Flag Wrex when he arrives. I'll go make sure he doesn't do something particularly boneheaded..." She actually laughed happily at whatever she was just told. "A small change of plans. As it turns out, now both Saren and Fist, the idiot he contracted to arrange your murder are at odds with the Shadow Broker. He's sending a contractor to end Fist and once Saren has been stripped off his Spectre status, go after him as well. After we hit the clinic, we'll go intercept said contractor – an old acquaintance of mine. We'll persuade him not to collect the bounties on your heads and he might come in handy when going after Saren."

"I see..." Shepard muttered. He really didn't, not yet anyway.

* * *

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS**

**lower levels**

**Zakera ward**

**The Citadel**

When he arrived in the neighbourhood with Dr Michaels' clinic, Garrus already knew that the situation had gone bad already. A patrol looking for the Quarian had decided to drop by and check if she has come in for treatment and they arrived just moments after a bunch of goons entered. The result had been a short vicious firefight that left an officer dead and his partner bleeding and screaming for backup. By the time Vakarian's car landed and he got out, Chellick was already on the scene along with at least a five more patrols. They had managed to drag their wounded buddy out and he was already on the way to Huerta Memorial in an ambulance. The clinic itself was more or less surrounded with ERS unit on its way.

"Garrus, good, you're here. We don't have plans of the place and there's some kind of interference preventing remote scans. You've been inside, right?" His partner didn't waste any time.

"Yeah. It's a small space. Unfortunately, there's only one entrance." He nodded at the door. "It leads to a five metre corridor with a door to the left for a small bathroom. The clinic itself is about six meter wide and about twenty long. The last time I was in, there was a solid barrier, about metre and half high right in front of the door. It acted as a kind of reception. Various drug and omni-gel dispensers on the wall to the left along with the doc's desk. To the right there were spaces with beds. The first four had thin but solid walls, the rest of the space was divided with curtains. No telling how many civilians are in there besides the doctor." Garrus paused for breath. "Chellick, as I told you, I got a message from Dr Michaels that she treated a Quarian girl with polonium poisoning. If I only checked my mails instead of wasting time with that Saren thing..." He shook his head ruefully.

"Orders, you couldn't help it." Chellick nodded in sympathy. As Garrus described the place, the other Detective had been busy using his omni-tool to draw a crude schematic of the clinic. "Does this look right?"

Garrus examined his partner's handiwork with a critical eye and added a few corrections. "That should be it unless the keepers paid it a visit since the last time I was here."

The Turians grimaced in commiseration. As useful as those buggers were, they tended to as often as not complicate everyone's lives. Whoever found a way to either communicate or control them would be set for life. Spirits, their families would be set up for generation. The Council had a very generous fund looking for solutions.

"When is the negotiator arriving?" Garrus asked.

"A few minutes after the ERS. She'll have to make it all the way from HQ."

In contrast, every ward had three substations where ERS units were stationed for rapid deployment.

"On the bright side, there hasn't been any shots coming from inside since the initial encounter." Chellick said.

"Small mercies. ERS will have to cut their way in. That corridor is a perfect killing ground. If they have any explosives..." Garrus winced.

"Those guys don't like frontal assaults if they can help it anyway."

Garrus nodded and glared at the clinic trying to think of a way to sneak in without having to blow a wall or the ceiling – not an ideal plan considering that there might be an unknown number of hostages in there.

It was at that time, when the day took a turn for the worse. An air car landed at the edge of the perimeter and when one of the officers there tried to wave it off, the door opened and an omni-tool flashed displaying credentials. The Turian stiffened and offered a reflexive salute. Spirits, was that Palin or something?

Garrus turned to look at the commotion and Chellick followed his example. An armoured Asari disembarked followed by a tall Human or Batarian in C-SEC armour. She looked over the area, frowned and headed their way with her companion in tow.

"Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. I understand we might have a person of interest inside. Report." With those words, the Asari took charge of the situation and Garrus wondered if they would even try to get anyone out alive with the exception of the Quarian the Spectre was obviously here for.


	4. Chapter 1 Parts 5&6

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Of cops and spectres**

**=DC=**

**Part 5**

**=DC=**

* * *

**22.04.2183 GS**

**Human Embassy**

**Presidium**

**The Citadel**

Uneasy silence persisted between Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina all the way back to the Embassy. After entering inside and securing the room, the Ambassador called Arcturus station, the seat of the SA Parliament. Just a minute later, the image of Foreign Minister Juliana Santos flashed into existence above Udina's desk. She was a middle aged woman with bronze skin and piercing, calculating gaze. She wore a sensible burgundy suite and the only jewellery on display were discrete silver earnings.

A moment later, Admiral Hackett's stern face joined her, making Anderson come to attention and salute sharply.

"At ease." The flag officer's scarred visage was thunderous. "I was just speaking with the Minister here about how I watched you two royally fuck up in front of the whole galaxy. She was about to give me an _explanation _that supposedly made sense." Hackett glared at Anderson, with his eyes saying that their long friendship might not be able to keep him out of the fire this time.

"This debacle wasn't my idea in any way, shape or form!" Udina glared straight back and for a moment there it looked like he might just be able to match Hackett – a respectable achievement in itself.

"Admiral, Captain, how close an eye have you kept on our domestic political situation? This attack couldn't have come at a worse time." Santos spoke in a conciliatory tone.

After coming from seeing and hearing Councillor Tevos in person, Anderson couldn't help but compare them and find his own Minister lacking. He wasn't sure what it was – perhaps not enough charisma compared to the Asari? Certainly Santos lacked the sheer presence the Councillor radiated when actually present but that might just be an artefact from the long distance call.

"Elections are coming in just a few short months. The last I heard, your ruling coalition is expected to do well enough." Anderson answered.

"In the Senate, perhaps. Parliament itself, that's another question." The Minister smiled wryly. "Ever since the Skylian Blitz and the odd pirate and slaver attacks upon our colonies both before and after, parties like Terra Firma, isolationist movements and radicals screaming for war against the Batarians have been steadily on the rise and now this." She shook her head. "What we ordered Ambassador Udina to do today was a calculated risk. We're bleeding support back home and ever since the news about Eden Prime hit the major networks and the extranet, it has been a political firestorm. We'll be facing a vote of no confidence at the end of the week based on failing to protect human space. This one will fail." Santos shrugged. "After what the Geth just did, you two know better than myself how much of a threat they represent. However, if we mishandle the political situation, we might be too busy putting down fire back home to deal with them effectively."

"I see." Hackett rumbled. "I've been too busy kicking Fifth Fleet back into shape – this was supposed to be our rest and refit period, to watch news about the reactions back home. We'll be leaving to shore up the borders with everything safe to fly in less than a day." The Admiral added. "I'm still not seeing how some political troubles are worth alienating the Council when we will need their aid more than ever."

"Because elements within Terra Firma knew about the evidence about Saren almost as soon as the government did. I've been assured Naval Intelligence is looking at how they found so fast. If we didn't participate in this little circus, they would have torn us in Parliament and later in the polls. How do you fancy fighting a two front war while Terra Firma is the ruling party and does its best to tear down our links with the Council? Because, I can assure you, if they win Parliament and form the next government, it is a question of when, not if, we fight the Batarians with everything that entails."

Both Hacket and Anderson blanched at that. David at least hoped that Santos was exaggerating at least somewhat, because otherwise… He knew sentiment outside Sol was steadily turning against further integration with the Council, against the SA as a whole as well. He could understand it. After the First Contact War, the Alliance spread too far, too fast. There were colonies who went far beyond human space to precisely escape government control and oversight, however it was the SA and the Navy who got blamed when one of those got hit or even wiped out. Worse, with the losses Admiral Drescher took evicting the Turians from Shanxi the fleet was stretched beyond the breaking point since day one. Even with the economic and technological boom coming from integration with the Council… neither budget nor construction could keep up with the sheer number of new colonies constantly spawning. It was even worse when all of those needed protection and the consequences of failing in said duty falling on the shoulders of the military and government alike all the while the majority of colonies would take decades or even centuries to reach a development status where they could be a significant contributor to the SA as a whole. Sol and few of the oldest and most developed colonies kept paying an ever increasing share of the budget and were constantly at odds with the majority of newer and more distant colonies. Ironically, it was primary those colonies who screamed the loudest against integration with the Citadel, while many of them enjoyed protection from the Turian navy, which too was being stretched rather thin if intelligence was to be believed.

That was the military reality that guided current navy doctrine and as a direct consequence allowed things like Mindoir and now Eden Prime to happen. The navy couldn't be strong everywhere. To try would invite a defeat in detail by even pirate forces. The only viable alternative was to concentrate the bulk of the striking power at a limited number of nodal systems – all containing important Mass Relays and hope to be able to reach a colony in danger before it was too late.

It worked at Elysium during the Blitz. Needless to say, too many times reinforcements came just in time to help bury the bodies, help clean up the mess and perhaps save a second colony from being hit.

At the same time, Sol, and thus Earth, and the oldest colonies resented paying so much for a navy that was more than enough to protect them. They wanted for the newer colonies to pick up the slack, something they simply were unable to do. That led to constant clashes both in Parliament and the Senate.

Anderson just didn't know it was so bad that a party like Terra Firma might be able to form the next government now that they could capitalize on the Eden Prime disaster.

"The Batarians will be overjoyed to give us enough rope to hang ourselves with. At best the Citadel will be neutral in such a conflict… if we have a reasonable people in charge back home." Hackett grimaced. "With the Terra Firma waving the torch of xenophobia and blaming everything wrong in the galaxy on aliens in general and the Council in particular? Worst case scenario, we might end from a major power within the Citadel Associates, one with a realistic chance for a Council seat in the long term into another Turian client."

"Why, Admiral, don't you believe we can take on all comers because we're Humans and thus the galaxy has to bend backwards at our very presence? From hearing the increasingly popular rhetoric, nowadays we can throw it with the Hierarchy pound for pound and that's only because we're being held back by the evil aliens." Santos' wry smile was back in full force.

"I'm perfectly convinced in the capabilities of our ships and crews. However, let's not go pick fights we don't need..." Can't win, was left tactfully unsaid.

"People hadn't really changed over the past couple of centuries, gentlemen. In a few months it won't matter if our evidence of Saren's actions wouldn't survive any scrutiny. If he is indeed behind Eden Prime, I sure either you or the Council would find out eventually. With the Geth back that is likely to happen sooner rather than later. Once that happens all that the electorate would remember is that we knew and did nothing. Terra Firma and all the radicals will accuse us of selling them to the Council for benefits that many of then don't really see on a daily basis. It's would have been very ugly. It still might be depending on what happens and how we all play our cards. I understand that Shepard's induction in the Spectres is still in play?"

"Correct. In fact he got corralled by a Spectre, a certain Tela Vasir on our way back from meeting the Council. Officially, its for debriefing over the events on Eden Prime and the Geth's capabilities. If I'm reading it right, she has been assigned to continue his evaluation and the Council will listen to her recommendation." Udina explained.

"Unless we make even bigger fools of ourselves and kill the Commander's prospects you mean." Santos nodded. "Honestly, that's better than we feared. As far as dealing with the Geth, you are to offer any and all assistance and information the Council, the Citadel Defence Fleet or the Turians ask for or demand. That included any and all data our relief force will be able to gather, samples of Geth or overlooked Prothean tech from the dig side too."

"So I'm to clean up this mess now."

"We really appreciate that you took one for the team. We won't forget it." Santos looked as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

"Unless it becomes politically convenient to throw me to the wolves during the elections you mean."

"We all do what we have to for the Alliance. Admiral, I trust you'll deal with Captain Anderson over his conduct during the Council meeting?"

"I most certainly will." Hackett nodded.

"Good. Keep the good work, Donnel. Have a nice day, gentlemen." Santos cut off the connection from her side.

"What's the humble pie I'll have to eat, Admiral?" Anderson asked.

"As of this moment, you're stripped off command of the _Normandy. _I'm assigning you to the Embassy staff to be liaison with the Citadel Defence Fleet. While you just burned your political capital, the Turians, especially their military generally do respect you and they will be doing a lot of the heavy lifting. We'll be keeping you very busy indeed – busy enough that you won't have time to even think about Saren or appearing at another meeting with politicians."

"At least beats a post on Pluto." Anderson nodded in relief.

"Oh, you act up again, and I have something appropriately nasty, cold and boring for you to do until retirement. Hackett, out."

When the call terminated, Udina felt like picking up his terminal and hurling it out of the terrace. Or perhaps at Anderson for liberally throwing fuel on the fire during the meeting with the Council.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 6**

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS**

**lower levels**

**Zakera ward**

**The Citadel**

"At least five assailants inside, one confirmed hostages, standard scanners of little use due to a power conduit passing almost below the clinic and the alloy this section is built of." Vasir summarized Chellick's explanation.

"Correct, Spectre."

"Well, then. As we don't know if our VIP is inside in the first place, once the ERS are here and in position to breach, I'll go negotiate with Fist's goon. Shepard, you're with me. The rest of you – keep the perimeter secure and be ready to provide assistance if necessary." Vasir turned to look at Shepard. "How would you play this if it was your call?"

John took a moment to think before answering. "Under different circumstances I would say wait for the professional negotiator and talk them down. They aren't going anywhere. The floor below us is covered in case they have a way to cut through it, right?" He asked the actual C-SEC agents.

"We've got two patrols below with at least couple more on the way to properly lock down the area." Chellick confirmed.

"Yeah, if we didn't need to secure the Quarian and figure out why certain people want her dead yesterday, waiting this out would be for the best. As it is, either persuade them to surrender along with the hostages or at least use the negotiations as a distraction for a breach. Go to hell plan, if they start shooting, blow the door, throw in drones and flash-bangs to disorient and hopefully soak up any traps then rush them. Ideally, if we have to breach, we do it from multiple directions after we've got locations of both the hostiles and the hostages. If that is not practical, we go in neutralize anyone non-Quarian with as much prejudice as necessary. If the girl is in there, getting her out intact is our highest priority."

"In that case the other hostages would be seen as expendable?" Vasir smirked.

"Unfortunately." Shepard grimaced. He didn't like said conclusion but it wasn't like he has been able to keep his hands clean since becoming an N level operative.

"You might just do then." The Spectre looked at the uncomfortable looking Detectives. "There's more at stake here than a few poor bastards who are at the wrong time and wrong place."

"Spectres tend to say that every time there's collateral damage." Chellick pointed out.

"Sometimes that's even the truth. We seldom have the luxury of taking chances. More often than not the stakes are too high, Detective." Vasir's tone implied she didn't like it any more than the Turian. On the other hand, Shepard had no bloody idea if she did that for show or if it was actually the truth. The woman was like a damn social chameleon!

The Spectre removed a black hood with large googles from a pocket on her belt and put it on. She switched on her omni-tool and the googles glowed with dim blue light.

"This area is made of alloy denser than warship armour. It might take too long to breach in unless we use the damn door. Anything that can cut through fast would likely bake unprotected people on the other side." Vasir calmly explained.

Whatever vision modes that hood had, Shepard wanted them. That would come in damn handy in the future.

"Have the ERS tech specialists sent in drones to check the walls and ceiling for any weak points. We might have to do this the hard way. Damn the Keepers, was this place supposed to be bunker or something?" Vasir shook her head in irritation. "Do we have anything on the goons inside? Names, profiles?"

"The data drive of the survivor got shot up to hell and he's in critical. By the time we get anything from him this will be all over." Chellick frowned at the reminder that one cop was already dead with another being rushed towards the operating table.

"Time until ERS is here?"

"A few minutes at the most."

"Then we wait. Was that the layout?" Vasir asked the rough drawing Chellick and Vakarian were hunched over when they arrived.

"I've been inside before." Garrus said. "Unless the Keepers changed the place in the past week this should be correct. However, there used to be windows on the back. They aren't there today."

"So there's no telling what other surprises the Keepers have for us." Vasir shrugged. "We wait for the ERS to arrive and deploy micro-drones. If they can give us a picture through this interference then we'll have something to work with."

A minute of tense silence followed until they could see the ERS transport approaching. Meanwhile, Shepard thought about the situation. They still had no description of the Quarian girl...

"Vasir, if the Quarian isn't there, then we'll need to get the doctor out in one piece. They should be able to give us a description to work with." Shepard voiced his thoughts.

"You figured that out just now? That's one of the reasons we're waiting for eyes inside." Vasir chided.

The transport landed nearby and disgorged two fire teams – five Turians, an Asari in commando leathers and a pair of Salarians – obviously the tech specialists.

"Lieutenant Falmar, ERS. Who is in charge here? Any new developments."

Chellick pointed a talon at Vasir. "She is. This is now a Spectre show."

If that perturbed the armoured lieutenant, he didn't show it.

"Ma'am, identification and orders, please."

"Tela Vasir." A flash of her omni-tool and she sent the necessary data. "We potentially have a VIP inside we need to recover intact at all costs. A Quarian girl, no description. If she isn't there, we need to keep the doctors alive for at least long enough to give us one. At least five five hostiles, light weapons unknown level of training and experience. Interference from a nearby power conduit and the make up of the walls prevents proper scans. We need eyes inside and for you to figure out if you can to breach fast without killing everyone in. Otherwise, we'll have to kick in the front door."

"Understood, Ma'am. We're on it." The Lieutenant turned to bark to his tech guys. "Jerrod, Q'val, get me eyes inside and see if there are any useful breaching points."

The Salarians ran towards the clinic with a heavy armoured and armed Turian babysitter hot on their heels.

Five minutes later tiny drones crawled through the vents and the tech specialists located a possible weak point in the ceiling at the far right end of the clinic. By that point everyone but the C-SEC agents minding the perimeter had gathered at the ERS transport. Multiple holographic windows displayed pictures from inside the clinic. A young human woman sat at a desk at the left corner.

"That's Dr Michaels." Garrus confirmed.

"Designate her VIP two. Extract intact if practical." Vasir ordered.

There were couple of patients – a sick looking Turian and a Volus sitting on the ground in and empty cubicle. The reason soon became obvious – the beds were pulled out and stacked at the entrance making any assault from that direction more complicated.

A pair of Batarians knelt behind the makeshift reception and if it was made of the same material as the walls, it was more than decent cover. Those two had the entrance covered with their assault rifles. A Turian stood close to the doctor while another kept an eye to the other hostages. More concerning was a heavy armoured Krogan busy pacing throughout the clinic.

"Lieutenant, make sure that you make a successful breach if necessary. Sent a few drones, carefully mind you, to check for explosives in the corridor. Once that is done and you're in place, I'll begin negotiations." Vasir ordered.


	5. Chapter 1 Parts 7&8

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Of cops and spectres**

**=DC=**

**Part 7**

**=DC=**

* * *

**22.04.2183 GS**

**lower levels**

**Zakera ward**

**The Citadel**

Insect shaped drones, mimicking some of the most common crawling things on the citadel, skittered down the corridor in the clinic. Encrypted burst signals ensured that their operator had real-time picture at the price of a very short short life – which wasn't really a problem considering that they were cheap and expendable.

"I'm seeing two mines – looks like standard shaped charges, pointed at the door. HE with some kind of shrapnel – omni-tool forged, light yield. Continuing sweep." The ERS drone operator announced. He along with the rest of his unit was near the weak-point in the ceiling, where they were finally ready to breach.

Vasir gave a critical look at the walls besides the entrance, scanned them with her omni-tool just in case and took position to the left after motioning to Shepard and the Detectives to stack on the right side.

"If this goes to hell, I want you to stagger overloads the length of the corridor. Once you've triggered the mines I'm using biotics to charge in and tackle the Krogan. You're moving after me while the ERS breaches." Vasir gave a long look to the three men who all had standard issue assault rifles on hands and their omni-tools on the ready with the appropriate programs ready to trigger. Once she got their confirmation, the Spectre overrode the lock on the door and waited it to slide open. A few bursts flew past the now opened entrance and ruined the back of a police car.

"Boys, I'm Tela Vasir with the Spectres. I'm feeling generous today and giving you a chance to surrender."

Three helmeted heads snapped in her direction at that announcement.

"If you're expecting to shoot someone inside and then make a deal or for Fist's benefactor to get you out of this mess, you can forget it. It's my way or the hard way."

"We don't get paid enough to deal with a frigging Spectre!" One of the thugs inside exclaimed in fright.

"Bah, I can take her!" The Krogan naturally blustered. Vasir sighed. With a few notable exceptions the smart ones died a long time ago and the less said for what passed as younger generations these days, the better.

"You can, but we can't!" A third voice joined in and a loud argument got in the way.

"That's just embarrassing." Vasir shook her head.

"You're staying right there until I say so!" The Krogan raged.

"Fuck this, I surrender!" A clatter of weapon thrown on the floor echoed from within.

"Cowardly Pyjak!" The Krogan roared.

"What… don't! A loud crash echoed from within the clinic followed by the distinct sound of unfolding weapon and a loud shotgun blast.

"Does anyone else want to surrender?!" The Krogan sneered.

"The go to hell plan it is. ERS, breach on my mark at three. One," She nodded at Shepard who nodded back, finger ready to launch a payload. "Two… breach!"

Electricity cracked around the left arms of the three men and then arched around the corner straight down the corridor. The first overload charge lit up the entrance in crackling energy and a moment later two deafening explosions sounded practically on top of the staggered squad. Red hot shrapnel scythed through the opened door and the discharge of the other two overload was left unheard. A corona of biotic energy surrounded Vasir who stepped in front of the entrance as if she had no care in the world. She sent a biotic shock-wave that tore through the makeshift barricade and disappeared within a blink of an eye leaving behind just a rush of displaced air.

A loud crack came from the back of the clinic in that moment followed by multiple deafening bangs and blinding flashes of light. Shepard wasted no time charging after the Spectre with the Turians hot on his heels. The first thing he saw was wisps of quickly dissipating smoke – all that remained from the explosion along with scorched and dented metal. Vasir surely wasn't joking, whatever the walls in here were made of was a fascinatingly tough stuff. The next thing to get his attention were the twisted, crushed and ruined remains that used to be the beds stacked at the end of the corridor. The combination of the shock-wave and biotic charge had simply obliterated them leaving only mutilated metal and torn fabric lining the walls and floor.

There was no trace of the two hostiles who covered the corridor earlier. One was probably dead thanks to the Krogan with anger issues and the second was likely hunkering down after that combined with Vasir's charge. Shepard wasted no time looking a gift horse in the mouth and sprinted until hit the reception. As previously agreed, he was to cover the centre, while Chellick swept left and Garrus, right. Shepard got into the clinic proper just in time to see Vasir has her way with the Krogan. While the huge lizard might have been at least half a ton of armour and angry muscle it immediately became obvious he was no biotic. That turned Vasir's charge from a potentially very dangerous distraction into a one sided beat-down when she went at him with biotic enhanced strikes. Two punches that Shepard barely saw pulverized the Krogan's shotgun and shattered an elbow. A kick snapped his right kneecap and its solid metal protector bending the leg back and sending the poor bastard falling to the ground while he howled in pain and rage all the way down. Vasir wasn't done with him however. Still moving faster than she had any right to be, she unlimbered her white, oddly shaped shotgun, aimed it at one of the eye sockets of the Krogan's helmet and shot him from point blank range. Whatever munitions she packet, sliced through the armour as if it wasn't thee and dented the back of the helmet from the inside – which meant that the lizard just got his head and brain turned into mush.

All that happened in the space of time Shepard needed to cross the corridor and hit the reception. He was just in time to see the surviving man supposed to cover the entrance try to get to his feet. He had lost his assault rifle and was trying to draw his SMG. The Commander put a stop to that with three bursts – two popped his target's shields and the third perforated his right shoulder, thus destroying the joint and sending him spinning to the ground.

"Centre clear!" Shepard shouted and swept right – where the remaining hostiles were supposed to be.

"Left clear!" Chellick's flanging voice echoed a moment later.

"Right clear!" Multiple voices joined the chorus.

The pair covering the hostages had stood quite close to the breaching point so they got the worst of both the breaching charges and the flash-bangs before the ERS poured through and unloaded at them with concussion rounds. Two Turians were covering the hostages in case they were anything but, while the Asari and their Captain were busy flash-forging bindings for the stunned prisoners.

Vasir looked around the clinic and nodded in approval.

"Good enough. Shepard, you shot him, you bind him." She turned to look at the shocked human who sat frozen at her desk.

"Doctor Michael, I presume? Tela Vasir, Spectre. Please tell me all about your Quarian patient."

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 8**

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS**

**lower levels**

**Zakera ward**

**The Citadel**

"Tali, you mean?" The doctor stammered. "Well, she came day, day and half ago..." Michael shuddered. "Sorry, too much adrenaline and coffee and too little sleep." She shrugged. "I've been busy lately."

"It's all right. It's over now, you're safe." Vasir said in a gentle, motherly tone. She put a hand on the doctors shoulder and gently squeezed it. "Please, tell me more about Tali. As you figured out, she is in danger and we're trying to help her."

"All right." Michael nodded and spoke a bit more calmly. "Tali stumbled in delirious. All I could get from her initially was that she was shot and in danger. That's why I called a friend in C-SEC, however he couldn't be reached so I sent him a message. It was nasty stuff they hit her with – polonium rounds. Medi-gel, her suit's medical systems and enough immuno-boosters to drown someone was the only reason she was still alive on arrival. I managed to patch her up and left her to rest in the back of the clinic. She eventually began speaking in her sleep, despite the medications. Something about an attack and Geth. With her being shot and Quarian I didn't know what to think, especially with the news from Eden Prime. Do you think she managed to escape the attack and saw something?"

"Not on Eden Prime." Shepard joined the conversation. "The timing doesn't work. She should have found whatever intelligence she has closer to the Citadel. The Normandy is one of the fastest ships in existence and we got underway here as soon as a relief force arrived in system. As far as I know we didn't detect any friendly or neutral shipping leaving after our arrival. Just the Geth."

"I wouldn't know." Michael shrugged nervously. "Do you think she'll be all right? Tali should be still in bed recovering..."

"If she was here she would be likely dead now." Vakarian joined in too. "Hey, Doc, you all right?"

"Garrus! You came!" Michael exclaimed excitedly and pounced to hug the startled Turian who caught her with a gobsmacked expression on his face.

"Ah, so this is your secret girlfriend. You know, there's nothing wrong and no reason to hide, right? I know for a fact that your dad at least is accepting of such things." Chellick snickered.

"It's not what it looks like!" Garrus spluttered.

"You sure about that, Detective?" Everyone could practically hear Vasir's smirk despite her mask.

Vakarian gave everyone a respectable glare before glancing down at the woman in his arms. "Doc, Chloe, I'm sure the Spectre here has a few more questions for you. Like a description."

"I'm all right." Michael grumbled and let go of the Turian. When she turned to face the rest of them, her face was almost as fiery red as her hair. "She's about one sixty five tall, slim, has dark blue almost black suit with purple scarf and visor…" The doctor continued to ramble about what she could remember of her patient. "I'm sorry but I don't have a picture… my clients kind of frown on that...''

"Or make people disappear." Chellick muttered.

"Now that we have a description, Detectives please do get it distributed through C-SEC and make sure we want Tali safe and intact."

"That's the order already."

"Just making sure. The last thing anyone needs is for some bigot to get overzealous. If that happens, I'll be throwing them off the nearest airlock." Vasir warned. "We're leaving you to wrap up around here." She turned to look at the ERS officer. "Lieutenant, you and your people did good. I'll make sure a commendation finds its way into your records."

The Turian officer preened at the prize.

"Come on, Shepard, we've got a Krogan to pick up."

"This is about Saren, isn't it?" Garrus blurred out, making everyone pause.

"What makes you think so, Detective?"

"I was in charge of investigating him on C-SEC's side. The Council didn't give me enough time nor your office access to anything useful. The whole thing was a Spirits damned sham. And while I was busy wasting my time, you people got the whole C-SEC look for a Quarian girl. The same girl who has been muttering about 'Geth' and 'attack' while sedated after being attacked on arrival at the Citadel. I don't believe in coincidences, Ma'am." Vakarian stared defiantly at the Spectre.

"Your reasoning is sound, though the evidence you have is merely circumstantial."

"I've learned to trust my instincts. Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong. Besides, I watched Shepard during the meeting with the Council – he was on Eden Prime and now, suddenly he's working with you tracking this Tali kid." Garrus glared.

"This is why you got an offer to join is, Vakarian." Vasir nodded. "However," She looked around. "Your timing sucks. Lieutenant, make sure your people keep mum about anything you heard in here until it obviously no longer matters. Chellick, you're taking Doctor Michael and her patients in protective custody until our investigation is over. Congratulations Vakarian, you just volunteered to be with us until I'm sure you won't be opening your large mouth where it should remain firmly shut. Now you two, walk with me." Vasir's tone left no place for arguments.

"Me and my Spirits damned big mouth,.." Garrus grumbled. "How did she rope you into this anyway?"

"Spectre evaluation for potentially joining them." Shepard explained.

Vakarian stared warily at Vasir's back. "Is she trying to conscript me or something?

"Move it people!" The Spectre barked loud enough that everyone jumped.

* * *

**=DC=**

**C-SEC Academy**

**Presidium lower levels**

**The Citadel**

A not very long, yet awkward ride later, the trio arrived at C-SEC's academy, which was situated near the docks. The building held the local precinct, as well as ERS response units meant to cover the area. They were also the place where anyone detained at the docks, usually smugglers or people on the run trying to snatch a ship, got held until processing.

The moment they entered the lobby, it became obvious who they were looking for. A huge Krogan clad in blood red armour was at a stand off with eight C-SEC officers. A ERS fire-team backed them with their weapons lowered yet ready to snap up at a moments notice.

"Listen to me, Krogan – we have information that you are here to commit murder. You aren't going anywhere with your weapons!" A human C-SEC officer bravely or stupidly confronted the giant lizard.

"Just try it, Pyjak!" The small mountain of armour, muscle and anger shifted so his back was to the wall revealing his face and huge toothy grin. A nasty scar – like something particularly deadly and vicious had clawed him - stretched from almost the top of his impressive bone crest all the way down to the throat. The gouge tissue barely missed his right eye.

"Wrex, stop antagonizing C-SEC. I already promised we won't be trashing this station too." Vasir spoke with fond exasperation – that was certainly new side of her Shepard just saw.

That gave the Krogan pause. His eye narrowed at the newcomers before focusing at the Asari. "I know this voice..." He trailed off and sniffed the air like a giant mutant dog. The newly named Wrex took a few steps towards the Spectre while everyone but Vasir watched him warily and ready to explode into action. "You even smell like her..."

"It's been a few centuries, Wrex. Did I left that much of an impact?" Vasir smirked.

"It took me a whole week for my ribs and lung to regenerate properly." Wrex laughed. "Aleena, I didn't think I would see you again, woman! What did you do, go back to Thessia to play Matriarch or something?"

"Went back out of cover, you oversized varen! What were you thinking picking up a fight with C-SEC anyway?"

"I was wondering who ratted me out? Do you have something to do with it?"

"I have a job offer for you. You aren't going after Fist until we've got him in custody and have squeezed every drop of useful information out of him."

At that statement, Wrex growled from deep within his chest. It sounded closer to the roar of a gunship's engine than something that came from a flesh and blood. "In exchange, I'll let you come with me when I go after your second target. You can then claim the bounty once we're done."

"And if I refuse?"

"For old time's sake I hope you're still one of the few Krogan with more than two brain cells left to rub together." Vasir's voice lost any warmth it previously held and became an ugly thing seeped into liquid hydrogen. "It would be shame if the epic of Urdnot Wrex ended up here – dying like a fool."

Shepard's heart beat faster at that declaration. John was sure that Vasir just stepped over the line and they would be fighting for their lives. He coiled in preparation to jump into action and mentally planned to open up with an overload that would weaken the biotic barrier that the Krogan would surely throw if he was a biotic or hopefully fry his shields if he wasn't. He saw from the corner of his eye Vakarian lighting up his omni-tool and placing a hand on his heavy pistol. The ERS guys shouldered their weapons too and the other C-SEC agents smartly got out of the line of fire before going for their weapons too.

Instead of attacking, Wrex smirked, then spread his arms and let out a loud belly laugh that shook his bulk. "Ahahaa! Woman, you still have a quad!" The laughter soon died to a mere chuckle and he stared at Vasir with a gleam in his eye.

"Let's speak details, Aleena or whatever you call yourself these days..."


	6. Chapter 2 Parts 1&2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**=DC=**

**Part 1**

**=DC=**

* * *

**22.04.2183 GS**

**lower wards**

**The Citadel**

A Quarian stumbling through the back alleys, keeping to the shadows and as much as possible out of sight – that was a three hundred years old picture within Citadel space. So much so that no one really paid any attention. Centuries of fear and propaganda had firmly fixed an image of an up to no good suit rat within the minds of most people as far as the Quarians were concerned. With the exception of those few who actually took the time and risk to get to know one, for most people a Quarian was best kept out of sight and out of mind. That, combined with the sporadic surveillance coverage within the lower and less well doing sections of the wards, explained why Tali managed to slip through unnoticed for so long. Too many people who managed to get a glimpse of her simply put her very existence in the back of their minds and soon forgot.

She wanted to laugh hysterically at the very idea, that conspiracy obsessed fool Prazza was actually right for once. Well, two times – if you count a rogue Council Spectre working with the Geth being close enough to a conspiracy between said machine and the Council to keep the Quarian people from retaking Rannoch.

Tali dashed towards the next shadow and leaned on the wall. It was only a generous dose of stimulants and painkillers that kept her going. All she wanted was to find some snug place to crawl into and go to sleep. However, she couldn't afford to do so. Tali knew that Saren had people after her and soon after she arrived on the Citadel and got shot, C-SEC apparently went on high alert searching for an unidentified Quarian female. She overheard that from couple other patients in the clinic and once she got somewhat more lucid, the Human Doctor confirmed it. She also told her she had contacted a friend in C-SEC, which prompted her to run as soon as she was able. It was obvious the Doctor had her heart in the right place, she didn't even care that Tali was a Quarian! However, if C-SEC got her, she was sure they would handle her to Saren – he was a Spectre and thus above the law. At best she would suffer a regrettable accident and no one would really care to investigate – why bother, she was a suit rat after all. Damned Bosh'tets!

At least she managed to contact an agent of the Shadow Broker – if it wasn't for one of her crew who died getting her this far, Tali would be lost on the Citadel with no plan. It wasn't like anyone would simply believe her evidence! C-SEC was more likely to lock her up and forget about her because of those thugs who tried to grab her at the docks! It didn't help that one the few working advertisement and news panels she passed by, all everyone could speak about was how the Humans brought evidence against Saren and it wasn't credible enough so now no one was investigating him. Those Bosh'tets messed up things so much that even if she managed to show her evidence to someone in authority on the Citadel, no one would take it seriously! At least now when it came from a Quarian… If the Shadow Broker sold them the data however… That was probably her best chance – both to see the Geth and Saren stopped and as importantly, find herself some protection to survive the rogue Spectre until someone could take care of him. Tali didn't even dare hope that whatever the Broker would be willing to pay would be enough to cover her pilgrimage gift. On the other hand, Fist told her the Broker was interested enough to meet her face to face as she demanded. That had to mean something, right?

And she was rambling… Tali shot herself with another dose of stimulants and painkillers – something that she would be paying for soon, but she needed it to clear up her mind and get to the meeting point without someone grabbing her. A curious wave of warmth and coolness raced through her veins, her heart beat even faster and a wave of perspiration covered her skin only to be absorbed by her suit's under-layer. Tali panted as the meds kicked in for good and straightened up with a jolt. She switched on her omni-tool to check on her location and plan the next part of her journey. If it wasn't for the maps of the area being so out of date, she might have been there already, however she had to backtrack multiple times due to too many passages either ending up in solid walls or leading not where they had to. Without knowing, Tali found herself passionately cursing the Keepers and whoever put them in the Citadel just like billions before her.

"Let's see… Get past that avenue unseen… That's going to suck… Then through those back-alleys… then I'll need a vantage point to scout the place..." Tali rambled to herself for a couple of minutes before the drugs were fully in effect and she could more or less move without shambling like a drunk.

Half an hour later and too many close calls with either thugs, what had to be two different gangs and C-SEC patrols, she finally reached the vicinity of the meeting place. There were markets a few levels up and the commotion from above seeped through the ceiling making it easier to sneak around unnoticed. That place would allow someone less conspicuous than Tali to lose themselves in the crowds, probably one of the reasons why the Broker chose there to meet in the first place.

Tali went low, keeping to the shadows as much as she could and crawled quietly towards the secluded alley that was her destination. An insect buzzed past her nearly startling her. If it wasn't for the last few hours skulking through the darker parts of the Citadel and encountering all kinds of vermin, she would have jumped in surprise! You simply couldn't find such things back in the Fleet – with her people's immune systems being what they were and the need to keep often centuries old ships running, any kind of vermin or insect had to be exterminated with extreme prejudice before they could ether make someone sick or eat through something important.

Here on the Citadel, apparently dealing with the damn menaces wasn't anyone's priority.

Another bug buzzed past her helmet and Tali suppressed the need to lash at it. She had never been gladder that she was sealed within her suit as she was during the past few hours.

She warily glanced around the corner of the alley – it was nicely kept in shadow, though that wouldn't help much if someone in there had thermal or night vision switched on. To her relief, there were four people there and the two fully armoured – either Humans or Batarians, were turned away from her. The other pair – Salarians in black bodysuits, were looking around, either for her or uninvited visitors.

"She's late." One of the armoured figures grumbled.

"She hasn't been around the Citadel before. Probably lost." A Salarian said. "We'll wait for now."

Tali wondered if one of them was the Shadow Broker or perhaps he was hidden within one of the shadows seeping within most of the alley. She slowly pulled away from the corner and leaned on the wall. Good, she was in the right place. Now, to check her hear, quietly mind you, in case the Broker decided he didn't need to pay and just grab her… She certainly hoped that wouldn't happen. He was probably her best and last chance to get out of this as intact as she was.

Tali's breath hitched when a purple glow lit up the shadows in front of her illuminating a tall Asari woman. She was the source of the light! 'Biotics!' her mind screamed and she tried to hurl herself aside. Even with reflexes boosted by the stimulants, the other woman was simply too fast. There was light and then Tali found herself frozen in place just as she was jumping.

"Boys, deal with those thugs." The Asari ordered while waving a hand and levitating Tali. "I'll keep our little Quarian safe."

Despite the stasis, Tali's eyes widened when three more figures materialized from the shadows around her. One was huge – a Krogan who had a terrible smile on his face. Next was a Turian in C-SEC armour and that clinched it for Tali – she was fucked. The last of the group – a fully armoured human, again C-SEC. Those were either Saren's people or they would hand her to him once he asked. She was so dead…

"The hell was that?!" One of the Broker's people exclaimed from down the alley.

The Krogan charged with a roaring laughter. Biotics surged around him and the last thing Tali could see was the C-SEC agents activating their omni-tools and sending sparkling overloads down range. Then she could only listen to the explosions, shots and screams… There were two terrible crunches too – that Krogan probably trampled the poor bastards and suddenly it was all over.

"Five of Fist's 'finest' are done for." The Turian announced after a minute or so. "I got their omni-tools and weapons for evidence. We might close a few cases once the CSI is done with them."

"Good thinking. Did you get IDs just in case?" The Asari asked.

"Pictures of one Batarian and Salarian, DNA samples from all of them. The coroner would have to identify what's left from the other three."

"Nicely done. Wrex, can I count on you to aid C-SEC on grabbing Fist and delivering him alive for interrogation? The Council is picking the tab on that one. Vakarian, you're with him to make sure your colleagues don't shoot him and or something."

"Saren's the bigger payday anyway. As long as Fist is done once you've squeezed him for everything he knows."

"If practical, I might leave him to you. Or he'll have an accident. That certainly would save the taxpayers a bit of money."

"Cut through the red tape too." The Turian, Vakarian nodded – that much Tali saw now that he came within her field of view.

Those people weren't with Saren, nor were they the Shadow Broker's!? What did she get herself into?!

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 2**

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS**

**STG Safe house**

**The Citadel**

All Tali could recall before being gently pushed into a lavishly decorated apartment, was being told to keep quiet and her omni-tool confiscated before being led to a nearby air car where once sat and strapped on the back seat she got hit with another stasis – as a precaution and then a crazy ride with the Human – Shepard, driving like a maniac and the Asari keeping an eye on her. When the other woman led her to the couch, the Quarian simply collapsed into it in a boneless heap. Tali vaguely recalled a curious Salarian coming to wave an omni-tool all over her then barking some orders before two humanoid shaped blurs moved around. Someone moved her until she laid on her back then they began to fiddle with her suit – she should have been panicking by that point, however she was simply too tired and woozy to care. Tali felt the familiar sensation of something being injected through a port in her suit then she knew no more…

"She should still be in the hospital. While I do have medical training, I'm not a Doctor!" Jondum snapped at Vasir and the Human she dragged in.

"We aren't getting her into a hospital until we know what's what. Here, this is her omni-tool. Crack it without wiping out the contents. If you really need her, I'll awake the kid." Vasir offered him the small device.

"Is that wise? For all we know, she stashed the data somewhere on her way to the meeting." Shepard suggested.

"She's practically overdosed on stimulants and painkillers. If it wasn't for Saren likely running around with the Geth and a super-dreadnought of unknown origin, I wouldn't even consider waking her up without at least twelve hours of straight up rest." Vasir explained. "For all we know, that bastard is planning another attack as we speak. We need some solid data – hopefully the kind that will warrant an open response."

That answer gave Shepard a pause. "You think that whatever she has might not be conclusive enough." He concluded.

"It's possible. Whatever it is it will need time to be verified as genuine. We might have to keep the source quiet – too many people distrust Quarians for no good reasons. Damn politics…" The last Vasir muttered too quietly for Shepard to hear. "Goddess, for all we know, this whole mess could be some Geth ploy to throw us into chaos while they achieve whatever other objectives they have. A single civilian surviving to 'see' Saren at that dock? If it wasn't for the scans of Nihlus body you brought back proving that someone caught him off guard and shot him in the back of his head, my first reaction would be that this all is a set up… though Saren didn't really help his case with the hit he ordered on you, your crew and the kid. For all we know, that order didn't even come from him, simply someone or something using his voice after compromising his contact with Fist. This is the real world, not that damn Blasto movie where things align to be resolved in a neat simple fashion." Vasir lectured.

"I see." Was all Shepard said.

He did too – it was hard to believe that simple machines could craft such an elaborate ruse, however no one had really seen them in centuries. Who knew what they were capable of or how they thought. For all anyone knew, the only thing Saren really did was being an ass during the meeting with the Council. That unfortunately wasn't a crime. Thinking about the evidence as objectively as he could, Shepard had to admit that it was very thin. In this day and age, when almost everything could be crafted with access to enough time and resources… He began to suspect that unless what this Tali girl had was incredible, the best he could hope for was that the Council recall Saren to have a talk with him in private. If he actually complied, then things would get even more complicated. On the other hand if he was guilty and merely trying to slow down any investigations in his affairs, he wouldn't come anywhere close to the Citadel without a whole fleet backing him. Shepard wasn't really sure which possibility he preferred.

Vasir gave him a long look and her face relaxed a bit. "I see you think about the implications of our actions and what we might have recovered. Conclusions?" She asked.

Shepard told her.

"More or less right. There is more than enough to continue investigating Saren quietly, however until we find something solid, he's officially off the hook. Unofficially..." The Spectre shrugged. "It's not the first time one of us has been accused of being a murderous maniac, nor it would be the last. It's just that usually there's some solid evidence. Then it depends if the Council would disavow the actions in questions or intent to make a point about their power. While we're speaking about power, despite popular belief we don't really get to do anything we want. While it's true that we're technically above the law – which nicely allows us to cut through red tape when necessary, we do answer to the Council. Further, there are limits that any of the three big governments behind the Council would allow for Spectres without official sanction for their mission from high up. So if you need to shoot people and break up things, make sure to think about the consequences. That is especially important when something is politically sensitive."

"Vasir's correct. On paper we do have the authority to take charge of any council military asset, including whole fleets. To order the bombardment of Garden Worlds even." Shepard could hear the emphasis there at the end. "However, unless you have an excellent reason for it, you can expect to either get laughed in the face, shoved into the brig until you're brought back to the Citadel to explain to the Council what madness possessed you or worse, accidentally get shoved out of an airlock..."

"Like Saren would soon need to come explain himself, no matter if he is innocent or being set up by the Geth, however unlikely that is." Shepard nodded.

"That's right. Keep in mind that when all is said and done, we Spectres aren't blunt instruments even if a few of us has such reputation – that was often gained when either working within the Terminus Systems where you need to shoot people and blow up stuff to make an impression or a mission went to hell and we had to fight our way out and did it successfully. While all of us do receive mandatory combat training, that isn't the point. More than half of us are accountants, engineers or even lawyers untangling sensitive issues within the heart of Council space. That was in fact something that made the dossiers your people forwarded most curious. You were all soldiers and if we wanted simply more muscle we would have went to the Hierarchy."

"It was my engineering skills that made Nihlus want to evaluate me then."

"That along with the improvisation and leadership you demonstrated on Elysium." Vasir confirmed. "Speaking of said skills – go help Jondum and demonstrate them too."


	7. Chapter 2 Part 3 & Interlude

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**=DC=**

**Interlude: Choosers of the slain**

**=DC=**

* * *

**Secure briefing room**

**Arcturus station**

Five people gathered to make the final decision about who they would recommend to the Citadel Council as the first Human Spectre. First to arrive was Admiral Steven Hackett – for a week now he has been busy with setting up Fifth Fleet for its rest and refit period and barring any unforeseen complications he would soon be enjoying a long earned vacation.

Right after him entered Captain David Anderson – strictly speaking the first Human who underwent a trial run for a Spectre and failed under conditions classified up to this day. Surprisingly the cover up held and very few people in the galaxy at a large knew Humanity had been offered this opportunity before. That experience combined with Anderson's otherwise spotless record and political connections made him a natural shoe in for this meeting.

The two old friends had a few minutes to catch up in peace before the politicians turned up. Ambassador Udina was back from the Citadel in person, officially to add his own experience and observation to the final screening process and bring back the personnel files. However, he had a lot of other reasons to visit the political and military heart of the System's Alliance – at Arcturus Station he could catch up with allies, friends and contacts as well as personally check the pulse of both Parliament and the Senate – the people whose achievements and mistakes he had to either herald for the whole galaxy to hear or try his best to sweep under the rug depending on the circumstances. Such informal meetings were vital for his future career if he wanted to be something more than an Ambassador, even if he was among the most important diplomats holding such a place in Human history.

Udina walked right beside Prime Minister Leonard Redding – an ageing man of Scottish origins who had a vague resemblance of his famous countryman Sean Connery. That was an image he was proud to maintain as a fan of the long passed actor. It was his intelligence and raw charisma that allowed him to rise up during the turbulent years following the First Contact War. Redding saw an opportunity and endless possibility within the fledging Systems Alliance and threw everything he had into the political arena to make the idea succeed. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that he built up the current ruling coalition with his own two hands. His silver tongue and ability to make people believe in him and his ideas were incredible boons both for him personally and the government as a whole.

Last but certainly not least walked in Defence Minister Valeria Shu – herself a veteran of the First Contact War. She saw first hand how outclassed Humanity was in space and once peace was achieved, she threw herself into politics in order to ensure both that the System Alliance didn't start a conflict it couldn't possibly win and do her best that eventually it would be ready to face all possible adversaries. The latter was a task she didn't expect to live to see achieved even if she wasn't particularly old woman.

The military men got up to meet their superiors and once they all exchanged pleasantries, ensured the room was sealed and in fact private, they all sat and get to the reason for the meeting.

"Udina, I must congratulate you again for giving us this opportunity." Valerie offered the Ambassador a dazzling smile.

"True my friend – this is the next step for Humanity and the System's Alliance. Admiral, Captain, we gave you access to the best of the best we have. Now we need to narrow it down due to reasons that go beyond our people's skills and achievements." The moment Redding began to speak it became clear why he was able to craft the ruling coalition – now, right there in person he was simply larger than life. When he spoke, people believed in both him and themselves and he made it look effortless.

"I must admit the original selection was quite curious." Anderson allowed.

"You can speak plainly, Captain." The Prime Minister offered a small nod of respect.

"The whole list we had to chose of – all soldiers, the best of the best within the Navy and Army. While my personal experience with the Spectres do indicate they get their hands as dirty as they believe necessary or for expedience sake if nothing else..." Anderson paused and looked the politicians in the eyes. "We know for a fact that for every Spectre who appears in the news, there are at least five doing their thing quietly. Most of the people we had to select from simply aren't suited for such types of assignments."

"I owe you a drink, Prime Minister." Udina cracked a small smile. "You did figure it out." He looked back at the Captain. "Should I explain or?"

"Let me do the honours." Minister Shu picked said in a pleasant alto voice. "One of these candidates should be the First Human Spectre." They all clearly heard the capital letters. "We want an operative who will get assignments where they can shine, publicly at that. While there's no official confirmation and Alliance Intelligence brings back more rumour than fact, you're in fact correct, Captain Anderson. As far as we know, majority of Spectre deal with quite mundane and boring cases within Council Space. More often than not, unless the situation got too fucked up to be salvaged, their achievements don't see the light of day for decades, centuries or ever. That's not what Humanity needs right now."

"We need a symbol – both for our people and for the whole galaxy to see." Redding continued smoothly. "A distinguished soldier of proven ability, one that the Council will have no choice but throw into the fire to get good use of their new Spectre." He smiled sadly when he saw how the military men narrowed their eyes at him. "I'm not disparaging or discarding the sacrifices any of our boys and girls in uniform make, gentlemen! What we do, is for Humanity's sake. You two, especially you, Admiral, are keenly aware of our precautions position. The breakneck expansion after gaining an Associate Status, one we fuelled with the expanded economy we got as a result, has brought us to the brink. Yet, we didn't have a better alternative then if we wanted to ensure the long term prosperity of our people! You all know the score! We had to expand or be locked out of priceless Garden Worlds and deposits of rare elements, especially eezo!"

"In fifty, more likely a hundred years, our children and grandchildren will thank us for it." Minister Shu added. "If we can keep things together for them to inherit the fruits of our labour. Even a third of our tiny new colonies develop and gain a respectable populations, we will be firmly placed to be the fourth most powerful species in the galaxy. Right now, outside the Council only the Batarians are our peers and in the fullness of time unless they radically restructure their society they can't keep up. Everyone else outside the Council has something that cripples them – from the isolationism and fanaticism of the majority of Hanar that has kept their economy small if extremely advanced, to the physical limitations and personal inclinations of the Volus and the slow way the great majority of Elcor make decisions crippling them in crisis and combat..." She paused for breath.

"I think that's enough, Val. Everyone here does know the picture. We're uniquely positioned to become the fourth Council member once we're a better known quality and our society and economy matures and expands – which would allow us to military keep play at least in the same ball-pack as the Salarians." Redding gently admonished.

"We in the Admiralty know the score, Mr Prime Minister." Hackett said. "However, that really doesn't make our current jobs any easier nor our situation any less dangerous. Our fleets are stretched to the breaking points and even the planned and agreed for expansion programmes would at best keep up with retirement of obsolete ships and not really with the current rate of expansion. The situation with the Army isn't really much better – we lack the logistics and numbers to supply more than a squad or two on many of our smaller frontier colonies. Even if we get authorization to expand the army, it would scarcely do any good – we would still keep the bulk of forces here in Sol or at our largest colonies, which are in fact the most secure."

"We can't expand our military nor merchant marine any faster than we are without breaking the bank. It's bad enough that the military eats the lion's share of the budget, however its worse that the economic prosperity the Systems Alliance enjoys hasn't really reached too many of our people."

Over seventy percent of the benefits and general expansion of the economy was centred around the military and its related industries – like the aerospace sector and everyone connected with the colonisation efforts. The largest of corporations thrived too – after series of mergers made them just big enough to survive an environment where they were small players compared to the mega fauna populating the economic oceans of Citadel Space. Many smaller businesses simply couldn't compete and ended up either bought or driven to sue for bankruptcy as the SA economy gradually opened more and more. It wasn't that there weren't fortunes to be made, it was just that most of those moneys and resources had to be invested into expanding the military again and again as well as founding more and more new colonies in order to claim space and more importantly, the precious resources contained within it – both as raw materials and place for humanity to expand into the future without the need of conflict.

Needless to day, no one was crazy enough to outsource military supply to Citadel corporations, which currently was the only viable way to catch up in the short to medium term.

"Let's get back on topic. Before we figured out what you might actually be looking for, the final list we were about to propose was a lot longer. As it is, we have ten names to go over..." Hackett got them all back on track.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 3**

**=DC=**

**22.04.2183 GS**

**STG Safe house**

**The Citadel**

During the short, yet enlightening conversation Shepard had with Vasir, the other Spectre had set up for work. On the left he had windows opened above his workstation showing a running search for their Quarian guest's identity based on the scans he took while treating her. To the right, her omni-tool sat innocently on a scanner while Bau did his best to spoof any possible traps.

"Kestel work – relatively cheap but robust one, as expected. Running Gentle Rain 11.4 OS, we've got both hardware and software hacks for this type of device and software combination..." Jondum began muttering at rapid pace once Shepard joined him. "Shouldn't prove too hard nor time consuming. Quarian have limited manpower and industrial capacity to spare. Usually using off the shelf components, more often than not obsolete because that was all they could salvage or afford. It makes their software easier to hack when we have access to the original code and hardware running it is old and more importantly, we're familiar with. Quarian updates obvious, meant to stop remote access cold. Sending manufacturer licensed update containing software attack package..." Tali's omni-tool lit up briefly before turning back into a small inert block. "Protocols compatible, upload finished..." The Salarian turned to flash Shepard a confident grin. "and we're in." He went back to work. "Downloading and copying data. Once its done I'll have the VI's go over it searching for the Intel. I might need you once we begin running verification. Are you familiar with that?"

"Vaguely. I'm usually the one they send to get the data – other people then make sure if its genuine."

"Then it will be a lesson time. Watch, don't touch and ask when something is unclear. Now scamper off, I'm busy monitoring hundred and one things."

Shepard took a few steps back to give Bau some personal space and let him work in peace and while waiting he went over what Vasir explained in his head. It did make sense even if the picture she pained was somewhat different from popular belief. That in itself merely made it that much more plausible. He certainly didn't expect that everything he had heard of the Spectres to be true – no clandestine organization worth their salt would allow such a breach of security unless one of theirs went rogue. Shepard had to suppress a wince at the thought of how much damage Saren could cause with his knowledge alone. He could actually see why the Council wanted to move quietly with the investigation too – somehow the Commander doubted that this was the first accusation that a Spectre received of being a rogue or a lose cannon.

"Aha! Multiple encrypted files located!" Bau exclaimed in glee. Running scans and decryption protocols using known Quarian algorithms… Ten more windows popped up showing progress bars.

"You're in already?" Vasir silently stalked until she was right beside Shepard and he didn't even sense her until she appeared in the corner of his eye and opened her mouth. His estimate on how dangerous the Asari was shot up again. Right now she was tied with that Gorgonian Wrex they picked up as the two most deadly individuals he personally knew. Between their experience and biotics, Shepard would loath to face any of them without the backing of at least a mechanized platoon, preferably with air support. He was glad they were supposedly on his side.

"We'll know once the decryption is done. Quarian overall tiny population strikes again – no matter how much they get hailed as the premieer tech specialists in the galaxy, with seventy odd million people they simply can't really compare. Granted, the mere fact they've survived this long guarantees that almost all of them are expert scavengers and incredible with jury rigging, however the people who they can with inclination, skills, training and experience in software development is just enough to really keep the fleet's networks working and reasonably secure. Not enough time and people to really dabble in software or hardware development. With couple of exceptions what they have software and hardware wise is distinctly obsolete, which might work against the Geth given their unfamiliarity with the originals, makes for glaring vulnerabilities when faced with well, us." Bau stated matter of factly – there was no pride in his declaration, merely a statement of facts.

"There's a reason why the Quarians on pilgrimage are primary sought on frontier colonies with limited resources or various repair facilities across Citadel space. We have at a minimum couple of hundred on the Citadel alone at all times doing maintenance work or modifying gear. In contrast, those working the really high paying and profile jobs – software and hardware developments, I can count them on one hand with fingers left to spare. Not really bad given their population, however in practical terms that's simply inconsequential. You don't develop proper software nor hardware without enough people and funds and the Quarians lack both so..." Vasir didn't need to extrapolate any more.

"One of the files is a diary of sort. Decryption there complete – it was modified commercial standard of a few years back. Easy prey for military software. Browsing to the last part…" The Salarian opened a new window with a text file in it. Shepard obviously couldn't read Quarian without first scanning the text with his omni-tool and using it for translation so he had to wait for either Vasir or Bau to enlighten him. And wait he did because Jondum went muttering himself at a too fast a pace for the Commander to get more than the odd word. "Mission to… found Geth… hunker down… isolated unit… engaged… cover… access data core… salvaged… more Geth… had to run… barely made it… ship… died… arrival…"

"Ahem." Vasir cleared her throat. "Enlighten the class, Jondum."

Bau froze for a moment then his head snapped to look over his shoulder. "Sorry," he had a sheepish smile on his face. "I just got caught up. Fascinating stuff. The ship she was on pilgrimage along with a group of other young Quarians detected some odd signals – similar to old Geth intercepts and went to investigate. Once on the ground they did stumble on a Geth setting up some king of outpost. They got lucky in cornering and neutralizing an isolated unit and Tali here," he pointed at the couch, "went to try salvage some data. As it turns out, if you are one of their creators and familiar with their systems, you might be able to salvage a partial dump of a Geth's data core before it wipes out and slags itself."

"So that's why Saren wants her gone." Shepard concluded.

"Probably. I've got a highly encrypted audio file – very different protocols used there. While we've got partial match in the database, it would take some time to get it in useful format. Then we'll have to verify to the best of our ability it's not a plant but genuine."

"Not just us – though we'll need enough to present it as credible to the Council. They'll have everyone – other Spectres, STG and some CDF and C-SEC software specialists go over it too." Vasir pointed out. "All we need to do is ensure it isn't an obvious fake, then its out of our hands."

The older Spectre did have a point – there had to be loads of qualified people to dissect the evidence ten ways to Sunday just on the Citadel alone. They didn't need to do everything themselves. Was this one of the secrets of being a Spectre? Given their broad authority, delegating might often be the trick. They really didn't have to do everything alone, otherwise they wouldn't have the authority to technically request any and all assets that they might need. They just have to be careful when and more importantly, how they used said power.

One of the windows with countdowns pinged and went green.

"Huh, that was faster than expected. Scanning and copying file… and now playing it."

"_Eden Prime was a major victory!" A Turian's distinct flanging voice came from hidden speakers. "The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." He sounded quite pleased with himself too._

"_And one step closer to the return of the Reapers..." A very different, female voice added. _

That word, Reapers, it _scratched _inside Shepard's brain and brought fourth a stabbing headache.

"That's all the audio. The rest is bits and pieces of data salvaged while undergoing delete. I'll need time to put it together in some kind of manner making sense. The voice certainly sounds like Saren. I don't know the other one. Running diagnostic and deep voice analysis..."

"That word, Reapers..." Shepard trailed off. "When hearing or thinking it, I keep getting flashes from that dream… the Beacon's vision, I think..." He stopped talking and began massaging his forehead.

"Most curious." Vasir said. Her omni-tool flashed to life and she began scanning Shepard with it. "Huh, that's a lot of neural activity. Reapers." She added.

Another stab of pain and disjoined image of twisted flesh, metal and screams.

"There's definitely a spike in there." Vasir confirmed.

"How much did that omni-tool cost to be able to do that?" Shepard tried to focus through the pounding headache.

"An obscene amount of credits and it's worth every single one of them, especially when I'm interrogating people. It's much simpler when both they and I know they lie thanks to their neural activity. That by itself has broken more than a few without having to touch or really threaten them." Vasir smirked. "We'll have to consult with a Protean expert or two. Hopefully someone with high clearance or one we could make quietly disappear for the duration of the investigation."

"Primary analysis complete – this is indeed Saren's voice. I'm running comparison for the other one as well." Another ping. "And we now have our guest's identity – Tali'Zorah nar Raya – Admiral Rael'Zorah's daughter no less! We've got a real VIP in here." Bau interrupted them.

"That can prove quite useful. We can use the Quarian's expertise in the war with the Geth, though after all that happened over the past few centuries, the Council might have trouble selling that to both the general populace and their governments. I'll arrange a meeting in person for when the kid is up. Meanwhile, once we've got a preliminary conclusion about the validity of this evidence I'll send it too. Bau, just in case, back it up to off site locations and had it ready to go to the Council, Spectre Office and STG if something happens to us before we can validate it as not an obvious fake." Vasir rapid fired a string of orders.

"I'll run a search about anything relevant called a Conduit." Shepard added. It doesn't really ring a bell."

"Yes, that's another thing to consider. It might just be a code word mind you." Vasir nodded in approval at the show of initiative.


	8. Chapter 2 Parts 4&5

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**=DC=**

**Part 4**

**=DC=**

* * *

**22.04.2183 GS**

**Council chamber**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

The day kept getting worse. First, the meetings with CDF brass was 'fun' when the Council told them about Saren's possible betrayal and the security nightmare that entailed. In no small part due to his questionable status, there were ships or even whole battle groups racing to check in person the various listening posts meant to monitor Geth space and avoid a sneak attack. With that done, the Admirals were now busy scrapping and updating all their plans for the defence of the Citadel and sooner rather than later C-SEC's high echelons would need to know about being possibly compromised as well. The Spectre's… well that was another thorny issue. Two STG units backed up by CDF marines and network specialists currently had the Spectre Office on lock-down and going through it slowly and methodically trying to find backdoors, listening devices, other nasty surprises left by Saren and not to mention the need to re-evaluate the Spectre cadre for other possible traitors. That by itself was going to be a nightmare and a half.

Then there were the two hopefully trustworthy Spectres investigating Saren and wasn't their newest update something to behold.

Tevos switched off her omni-tool once she was done reading the summary and listening to the recovered piece of conversation. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and felt the need to go to the bar and hit the hard liquor. Perhaps find if there was some Ryncol to re-appropriate from one of C-SEC's evidence lockers.

Goddess, she knew that other voice. What was Benezia thinking?! Didn't she go to Saren to avoid him going on the deep end?! Instead she jumped right after him gleefully it seemed. It didn't make any sense! Granted there was still the possibility of the evidence to be a Geth plant, both Vasir and Bau did spell it out as a warning, however they did recommend Saren's recall and debriefing in person anyway.

As if that wasn't bad enough, there were the other pieces of data from the Geth data core – about those Reapers Benezia spoke about. Ancient advanced machines, whom the Geth apparently took to worshipping over the past few centuries. The same murderous rogue AI's who apparently went and wiped out the Protheans if the data fragments were to be believed. Shepard's reaction to the name and included recording of his neural activity taken by Vasir lent credence to the whole insane story pained by the evidence recovered so far.

"So what? Saren went insane, joined the Geth and some old even crazier AI's who want to murder everyone for reasons? This makes no sense at all!" Sparatus fumed.

"We don't have a motive, I'll grant you that. However, there's always good old fashioned brainwashing. Stick some advanced implants in someone's head, there are chemicals and other ways to get it done. While during the meeting yesterday that certainly looked and sounded like Saren, a sufficiently capable AI who had him at its disposal for unknown period of time could have fooled us. We need to examine him in person to be certain." Valern thought aloud.

"That makes more sense than Saren going crazy enough to want to help kill everyone for fun." The Turian spat in disgust.

"We don't know if that's what their ultimate objective is. Certainly until meeting those 'Reapers' the Geth were perfectly happy to mind their own business and not bother us. As their primary objective on Eden Prime indicates, they're after something of Prothean origin."

"Whatever it is, we can't let them have it. I certainly don't like how those things call themselves – Reapers. Doesn't inspire confidence in their motives." Sparatus growled. "How long until we have independent verification that the data is genuine?"

"A few days if we want it done right. Mind you, with the damage caused by the Geth's trying to erase and melt its core, it might not be possible to give a hundred percent guarantee." Valern explained.

"At any rate this combined with the other circumstantial evidence is more than enough to recall Saren. If he comes we stick him in a secure facility until he's been scanned to the molecular level for unknown implants or brainwashing. If he refuses to come or simply fails to appear we'll know for a fact that he is either compromised or indeed rogue. In either case we'll need to hunt him down and consider everything he knew compromised." Sparatus sighed. "Can we afford to wait for the confirmation of the data's validity given the stakes?"

"C-SEC needs to know and start overhauling protocols ASAP." Valern concluded. "What do we tell the Humans? Shepard is aware of the new evidence however he has agreed to keep quiet at least until we can be reasonably sure its the real deal this time."

"Call in their Ambassador and Captain Anderson – what was his new job? Liaison with the Turian military? We'll meet with them, Shepard and the Spectres and formulate an official course of action. Something else. I'm reasonably sure I recognize the other voice – that sounds terribly like Matriarch Benezia and with her rumoured to have gone to soothe Saren..." Tevos frowned.

"That makes it almost certain that even if Saren is acting on his own will, she might not be. More brainwashing screening. I loathe those." Valern cursed in Salarian dialect that neither the translator implants nor his fellow Councillors knew. "What assets she has access to? We'll need to monitor or freeze hers too. Contacts we should watch? Notable people to check if they were compromised too?"

The threat of brainwashing was an old one – all three Councillors knew their people had been dabbling with it as far back as the days before their species became spacefaring much less interstellar. Screening for said threat was always necessary and a monumental pain in everyone's azures no matter how necessary.

"That's a very long list." Tevos grimaced. "We'll have to step carefully there. Benezia is one of the most powerful and respected Asari Matriarchs. Many would not believe her being subverted based on what we currently have."

"More covert investigations. We'll officially blame everything on Saren if we have to. Write her off along with other high profile compromised figures if any as collateral damage..." Valern's let his STG training shine through his usually calm and approachable exterior.

"Keep that thought." Sparatus noted. "What about Shepard? He did get something from that beacon if the mere mention of Reapers makes his brain fire up. We probably should arrange that he meets some of our Prothean specialists."

"Why this makes me think I'm forgetting something? Prothean experts..." Tevos spoke aloud before her eyes lit up with recognition. "Benezia's daughter! A decade or so back it was quite the scandal in certain circles. She's fancying herself a Prothean expert and had some radical theories that got laughed out due to her youth and inexperience! The mess Benezia's daughter made was all the talk until she got bundled out from archaeological dig to archaeological dig in order to keep her out of sight and out of mind until all the furore passed." Tevos had her omni-tool back on and browsing through a secure extranet connection about details.

"Interesting but why is this important beside her being a person of interest as Benezia's daughter?" Sparatus asked.

"I'm remembering correctly it seems. The daughter, Liara T'soni had radical theories centred around cycles of extinction – she claimed that an outside force wiped out the Protheans, possible a few species that preceded them too. I might be reading too much into it but doesn't that sound like these Reapers to you? As far as I know she either didn't find enough evidence to back her theories or it wasn't credible enough. There are no easy to find links about her theories and how she came to them, much less about evidence. We'll need to find her and send someone to ask questions about her ideas and her mother."

"Interesting indeed and if there's even a shred in truth in her ideas, most concerning." Valern allowed. "Any other notable family members we should look at?"

"Liara's father perhaps but as far as I know she and Benezia have been estranged for nearly a century now."

"Still, she might give us a better handle of how Benezia has changed or been changed. We'll need to retrieve them both. Recovering Benezia alive if practical should be a high priority too." Sparatus said. "Lets get things going and call in our Spectres and the Humans. We have some more plotting to do."

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 5**

**=DC=**

**23.04.2183 GS**

**STG Safe house**

**The Citadel**

It was warm and comfortable. Peaceful and… quiet? That should have made her worry but instead she continued to drift in content fog. She wasn't quite awake yet nor really asleep. A familiar sensation, a hypospray piercing skin and the warmth became something distant as cool liquid raced through her veins.

"Miss Zorah? Tali'Zorah nar Raya, rise and shine!" An annoyingly chipper voice was the straw that broke the fog and Tali cam to awareness with a start.

She tried to get up and figure out what was wrong when a pair of strong arms caught her and pushed he back. First she saw people shaped objects leaning over her and the familiar orange glow of an omni-tool. As the coolness within her became a slight chill and her heart started beating faster, her vision cleared. There was familiar Asari holding her down and a Salarian was beside her waving an omni-tool over her laying body.

"What?" Tali gurgled through parched lips then memories rushed in and her eyes widened in shock when she recognized the Asari. She struggled, tried to kick and claw at her captors only to be hit with a stasis, again.

"I wasn't finished yet!" The Salarian complained.

"Next time you try holding down the little spitfire." The Asari smirked. "Feisty little thing, isn't she?"

"She's not a pet, you know." A new voice added. A human with very short hair – almost completely shaved walked in to stand between the other aliens. He had a ruggedly handsome features and with him standing beside the Asari, it was startling how those two species resembled Quarians at least as far as facial features went. "You can't keep her."

"You sure about that, Shepard?" Was that teasing she heard in the Asari's voice? "She's a resourceful little thing, has experience in recovering more or less intact Geth data cores and we'll be hunting Geth among other things. Considering what she did to that first group that went after her, she's quite proficient with a shotgun too. She'll fit right in."

"Do you want a full collection? You already have a Human, Krogan, Salarian and Asari. I'm reasonably sure you'll be conscripting Vakarian too. So what's next? Volus lawyer or quartermaster? An Elcor or Hanar?"

"I'll take a Drell anyday instead one of those nasty tentacle monster." Vasir grumbled and absent mindedly rubbed her neck. "A few decades ago one of those little bastards nearly choked me to death. If it wasn't for my biotics I would have been a goner."

"You can have your pet Krogan eat then next Hanar who tries to molest you, Vasir. We aren't really interested in your sexual escapades." The Salarian grumbled.

"You do have a sense of humour!" Vasir pumped a fist into the air. "I do win that bet!"

"Seriously?" The Human sighed.

Tali could comiserrate or she would if he wasn't one of those keeping her captive.

"What do you want with me?" She managed to hiss despite the stasis locking her down in a very uncomfortable position.

"Will you behave or do I need to freeze you again once this times out?" The Asari asked.

"I'll be good!" Tali promised. It wasn't like she could really overpower any of them except the Salarian. She had to bid her time and get away if they gave her a chance.

"Good girl. I'm Tela Vasir, Spectre. This," she waved at the Salarian, "is Spectre Jondum Bau who has a freshly discovered sense of humour. We probably throw him a party for the occasion and finally, my personal minion – Lieutenant-Commander John Shepard from the Systems Alliance navy."

"Is that promotion or demotion from a prospective Spectre candidate?" The newly named Shepard snarked.

"The jury is still out on this one." Vasir wisely nodded.

"I'm still alive. That means you don't work with Saren..." Tali connected the dots.

"Nope, we're investigating him in fact." Bau confirmed her hopes. "You did well to recover as much information from that data core. We'll want you to show us how you did it so we can refine the procedure… I wonder if modern tools would have made a significant difference..." The Salarian began to ramble.

"They should. What I had to work with was less than ideal." Tali confirmed his suspicions.

"Great! Now tell me how..."

"Ahem. We'll cover that later, make it SOP for our tech specialists in the field once its done. First a few questions and lets give Tali here a bit of time to freshen up before we go meet the Council!" Vasir demanded,

"What?" Tali exclaimed and the stasis flickered out. She exclaimed in surprise and only the Asari's firm grip held her from tumbling to the floor.

"I would like to say that you'll get used to this but somehow I doubt it." The Human sighed again.

"We'll have to find your sense of humour too or you'll get all dull and boring like those fossils back on Thessia." Vasir frowned in disapproval.

"Keelah…" Tali muttered. "I could swear you said we'll be meeting the Council..."

"We will, in about two hours."

* * *

**=DC=**

**23.04.2183 GS**

**Council chamber**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

The place where the Spectres led her into turned out to be very clean, well lit and somehow less opulent than Tali imagined. There were various tasteful pieces of art around the walls – paintings, a few statues and a huge star scrape that as she watched flickered from a beautiful blue world to a long range picture of the Citadel with the gas cloud half-concealing it making for a stunning display. At one corner there was a large couch with small tables in front of it and what looked suspiciously like _wooden_ cupboards next to it. In contrast, a large table made of some white alloy dominated most of the room and despite of the furniture with various colours everything was chosen well so it wouldn't clash. At least to her Quarian eyes.

Three people sat at one corner of the ellipsoid table – an regal appearing Asari in the centre flanked by a Turian and Salarian in what looked like very expensive suits. Beside the Salarian sat two humans – one dark skinned in suit and a uniformed one whose skin was a shade darker. Those colours weren't something you saw among Quarians – they usually varied from pinkish to light blue, though much move vivid than any Asari.

"Spectres, Commander Shepard and Ms Tali'Zorah, welcome." The Asari gave them a welcoming smile and waved towards the table.

"Shepard," The Humans greeted and gave Tali and the rest curious looks.

A brief round of introductions followed putting names to the faces. Perhaps now, someone would explain to her why she was deemed important enough to sit in this meeting.

"I won't beat around the bush as you humans like to say." The Turian Councillor began. "After the accusations you people made in the immediate aftermath of the Eden Prime attack, we immediately began investigating Saren."

"That much we know, Councillor." Ambassador Udina inclined his head in what looked like conciliatory gesture. "However, we all know how that turned up."

"Do you, now?" Sparatus' mandibles twitched in obvious amusement. "The C-SEC investigation was a mere smoke screen. We didn't allow the agents charged with conducting it enough time nor access to any relevant information. It was a mere formality. The actual investigation has been done by Spectres Vasir and Bau." A talon singled the Asari and Salarian who rescued her from walking right into ambush yesterday. "At first all they uncovered were few questionable details, however the investigation picked up shortly before the _Normandy's _arrival on the Citadel..."

The Turian Councillor went on to explain that apparently Saren had ordered the assassination of Shepard and whoever else had been on the ground with him on Eden Prime along with her own murder. Not enough to conclude beyond a doubt that he was a part of said attack but while circumstantial, the evidence was nonetheless quite damning. Then there was what she recovered, something the Council let Bau explain.

"In conclusion, we've got more questions than answers." Tevos said. "Is Saren merely a madman who managed to somehow subvert Benezia? Are both of them merely puppets for the Geth and that old AI they somehow made contact with? Is Saren even still alive or merely a convenient distraction?" The Asari grimaced. "It would be at least another twenty four hours before the data Ms Zorah recovered could be verified as more or less genuine. Given the circumstances and corruption due to the Geth unit being busy destroying its memory, we might not get a high level of confidence in its authenticity." Tevos raised a hand in a gesture that halted Tali before she could open her mouth to protest. "I'm not blaming you, Ms Zorah, even if there would be some who would take anything coming from Quarian sources as inherently tainted, especially if it concerns the Geth. There has been too long a period of bad blood between our people to be any different."

Did she sound as she regretted that fact?! It was all the Council's fault that the Quarians had to be nomads after their exile!

"What do you intend to do about Saren, the Geth and this Reaper AI that either works with them or has them all subverted?" The Human Ambassador demanded.

"At least initially we'll have to tread carefully." Sparatus's face twisted into an ugly grimace. "We still lack evidence that is beyond doubt, especially when Benezia is concerned. At least as far as Saren go, we do have other reasons to recall him besides Ms Zorah's recording. The Matriarch is very well connected – it won't be a stretch to say that she is among the most powerful people in the galaxy. We need to know how badly we're compromised here before making this public."

"So you will do nothing?!" Udina's voice was low, almost a his. The sheer disbelief he radiated was a sight to behold.

"Ambassador, would you kindly refrain from putting words in our mouths?" Valern chided lightly. "We'll be recalling Saren shortly. If he shows – all is well and we can stick him into interrogation room after we've checked him for any controlling implants. The more likely outcome is that he doesn't show or outright refuses to come and then we can strip him of his Spectre status and begin hunting him down. What we won't do at this time is publicly announce that there is in fact a connection between him, Benezia and the Geth."

"I think that in this instance I can speak for all of us Humans, when I say this while a nice gesture won't be enough." Captain Anderson spoke for the first time since greeting Shepard at the beginning of the meeting.

"As far as the Geth go – we'll continue to coordinate our military response. We've dispatched units to check and secure our listening posts that were supposed to prevent exactly this kind of sneak attack. However, it's not just your fleet that is stretched rather thin." Sparatus continued. "The Turian navy has too many responsibilities as it is. We'll need to keep significant assets to cover our core worlds, critical infrastructure and vital choke points. It's not like we can immediately surge into a foolish invasion of Geth space. We don't even know if Saren, that Reaper and the Geth fleet that hit Eden Prime had returned beyond the Veil. We'll first need to locate the enemy before striking back and without creating easily exploited openings! Our best guess is that they are laying low for now somewhere in the Terminus. Sending a fleet there will spark a war..." Sparatus slammed a fist into the table shocking everyone. "We'll win it without a doubt, however that not only would take time and precious resources, but pirate and warlord strikes will cause significant damage going after soft targets before we can put them down. All the while we'll be making ourselves vulnerable to the Geth. We won't send a fleet unless we're sure that even a victory there won't make our strategic situation worse. Military speaking, we'll need to wait to properly mobilize or for Saren and the AI's to come to us."

"That's prudent..." Anderson allowed.

"And it will be politically unacceptable once it becomes clear Saren is rogue, much less working for the Geth no matter if it is of his own free will or not." Tevos said in a calming tone. "We are aware of your domestic situation. It is not in the Council's nor the galaxy's interest that your people radicalise. We're prepared to officially induct Shepard into the Spectres once we've got some more solid evidence. He'll still be working under Spectre Vasir's guidance, however his mere presence during the hunt for Saren should help I believe."

"That can work." Udina allowed after few tense moments of deep thought. "However, if the Geth hit more of our colonies and we aren't seen to respond, and by we I mean both the Alliance and Citadel, the situation back home will turn for the worse."

"None of us wants that. When practical, we'll use elements of the Turian fleet to help shore up your borders." Sparatus suggested.

"That would be opening another can of worms but I believe it might be for the best." Captain Anderson said.

"With that settled, we do have a few more ideas to suggest." Valern changed the topic. "First, you have one of the fastest and stealthiest ships in known space in the Normandy. We'll request you allow Spectres Vasir and Shepard use it to retrieve a VIP. One Liara T'soni – Matriarch Benezia's estranged daughter. She is a Prothean expert, if young and is currently at a new dig site within Human space. We would want her available for both debriefing and as a consultant."

"Figure out if she is potentially compromised too while you're at it." Captain Anderson slyly suggested.

"That too." A hint of a smile appeared on Valern's otherwise serious face. "Second, the _Normandy _would make for an excellent vessel for said Spectres to covertly track Saren and the Geth within the Terminus. They will have access to what STG assets are available as support, however unless and until we know more, proper fleet support will be unavailable at this time."

"I believe both Admiralty and Parliament will agree." Udina said.

"And third, thanks to Ms Zorah here and he connection with Admiral Rael'Zorah, we would want for the Normandy to quietly ferry her to the Migrant Fleet along with an ambassador and a military attache to discuss response to the Geth aggression and arrange access to Quarian expertise. While we will make no binding promises at this time, if all Geth turn to be either hostile of their own volition or subverted, then we'll need to neutralize them as a threat. If that is to happen..." Tevos smiled at Tali.

"Rannoch..." The young woman whispered reverently.

"At this time the possibility of driving the Geth all the way there is remote, however not something we are willing to overlook." Tevos added.


	9. Chapter 2 Parts 6&7

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**=DC=**

**Part 6**

**=DC=**

* * *

**23.04.2183**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

In the aftermath of the stunning Council meeting, the Spectres led a dazzled Tali out – all three of them. While a public ceremony with all the bells, whistles and circus that entailed would have to wait, for all intents and purpose Shepard was one now. His induction was positively anticlimactic too – the Council said so, updated his status within moments and a subdued round of congratulations from the Captain, Ambassador and his new colleagues – all told it took less than couple of minutes and it was done with.

"I honestly expected something… more." John admitted.

"Oh, I'm sure there will be a first grate political circus on your official induction ceremony." Vasir chortled. "However, we've got work to do. Bau, you're back to the Office, make sure the place is cleaned up. You'll be on Intel support for the time being. Find us everything you can about Liara T'soni, where she is and what Saren, her mother, the Geth or anyone else sent after her. Shepard, Tali, you two are with me. We're going to check what happened with Fist, then pick up some gear. By then your Ambassador should have cut through the red tape and the chain of command to get us authorization to use your ship."

Tali's brain finally rebooted. "Can't the Council just order it?"

"The Chain of Command is a thing. Technically they can directly order only C-SEC and the units attached to the Citadel Defence Fleet." Vasir waved at the other two Spectres. "Us too, naturally. There are two ways to go around it – request assistance from the relevant navies themselves or send a Spectre to requisition the necessary support. After Eden Prime and the accusations levelled against Saren, I don't believe that it would be prudent to go demand the _Normandy _ferry us all over the galaxy without clearing it with the Systems Alliance Admiralty. At best it will be a political blunder, at worst, who knows. I'm not up to date with internal Human politics. Shepard, take this as a learning opportunity, baby Spectre. There are times where our broad authority is left best unused for a myriad of good reasons."

"I'll forward you everything I can find once I'm reasonably sure we aren't compromised." Bau nodded and took his leave.

"Where to, ma'am?" Shepard asked.

"C-SEC Academy. Due its location, it contains one of the larger Spectre armouries on the Citadel. We'll be able to pick up some better weapons for you and get you measures and preference for custom made armour. However, besides a standard kit and various general mission load-outs, if you need something more fancy for personal use, or to outfit a squad or two, you'll need to pay for it yourself. That is one of the reasons while we're paid very well many a Spectre creates sources of additional income. That includes freely available funds to bribe people when we need. As a bonus we don't need to then justify those bribery funds to accounting." Vasir grimaced. "If you live long enough you'll learn that oversight, especially the demons who are our accountants are the true bane of our existence."

"That's not what Blasto claimed." Tali said in a small voice making Vasir freeze in place.

"Girl," The older Spectre hissed. "I do like you and that's why you remain blissfully not shot somewhere painful."

"Note to self, don't mention Blasto around Spectres..."

"Good girl."

* * *

**=DC=**

**Chora's den**

**The Citadel**

Smoke and blinking lights filled the infamous night club. The bar gleamed with shattered glass and spilled alcohol, like a reflection of the floor, which in turn was covered with broken bodies and pooling blood.

"I blame you for this!" Garrus glared at a certain smug looking Krogan.

"I waited for you to ask them to surrender." The mobile mountain of armour and muscle rumbled happily. "It's not my fault that once they saw me they opened fire." He poked the crumbled form of a much younger Krogan. The body stirred and let out a bass moan. "Heh, tough little bastard." The younger lizard had a visible dent on his still forming crest where Wrex head-butted him, repeatedly.

"They thought we were all mercenaries!" Vakarian spluttered and waved at the ERS people who were busy securing the casualties for the medics, while another unit was camped outside of Fist's office and talking him down. Their primary target currently hunkered behind his desk and if it wasn't for a pair of heavy duty turrets covering the only entrance he would have been bagged already. "All because of you!" He pointed an accusing talon at the giant lizard.

"Not my fault you don't look respectable." Somehow Wrex managed to shrug eloquently despite his heavy armour. "Oi, stop pretending. I smelled your blood rage kicking in. You should have regenerated enough to move." He kicked the downed Krogan.

"I'm not feeling particularly suicidal, thank you very much." Came the unexpectedly cultured response.

Wrex sniffed at the other Krogan. "I can smell some Urdnot in you, Pyjak. The other smell is familiar too..."

The other Krogan refused to speak any more.

"We aren't here for a family reunion, you know." Garrus shook his head in exasperation. Why did the Spirits hate him so to saddle him with this insanity?!

"Bah, most of my clan are bloody fools, just like the other idiots back on Tuchanka." Wrex grumbled in disgust. "At least the kid here has a quad."

Said younger Krogan remained sullenly silent.

"Aren't we going to dig out Fist or something? This is getting boring." Wrex continued.

"We do want him alive for interrogation." Garrus looked around in disgust. "If we let you at him, there won't be anything left but a smear on the wall." He pointedly looked at what little was left of a Batarian Wrex shot point blank with an explosive shotgun slug – most of the poor bastard's torso was in fact smeared all over a previously white wall. Now it was covered in blood, chunks of flesh and other less mentionable pieces.

"I can be very reasonable when I want to. I'm known for bringing back marks more or less intact when whoever pays for them wants them alive!" Wrex protested his innocence. The large grin and rows of even larger teeth somehow weren't reassuring.

"I though you were known about indiscriminate carnage." Garrus countered. He did check on what C-SEC had on the overgrown lizard that crazy Spectre saddled him with.

"That too. Good times." The Krogan nodded solemnly. "Yo, Fist! Surrender to those C-SEC Pyjaks or I'll come in and beat you unconscious with your arms!" Wrex roared in the general direction of their target's office.

"Screw that! I'm not moving while that maniac is on the Citadel!" Fist screamed back.

Garrus looked like he very much wanted to use the Krogan as target practice.

"My offer still stands." Wrex said in something that might have been placating tone, or it would have been if the bastard didn't look so pleased with himself.

"You're supposed to help, damn it!"

"Not really. I'm here to prove that I can take care of Fist without killing him for the Shadow Broker. I haven't killed him yet. The Spectre needs him in a good enough condition for interrogation. He doesn't need arms for than. When I think about it, he doesn't need legs either… Say do you want to pick up something to eat once we're done here? I'm feeling a bit peckish. We had to wait for eight hours until you let us come!"

"The place was packed until five in the morning! The last thing anyone needed was another hostage situation!" Garrus chocked off in desperation. Shooting the walking and talking menace sounded better and better with every passing moment.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 7**

**=DC=**

**23.04.2183 GS**

**C-SEC Academy**

**The Citadel**

A Turian Navy shuttle deposed them at one of the landing pads reserved for government use at the front of the C-SEC Academy building after a short and quiet ride. They arrived just in time to see a pair of ERS transports returning. After disembarking, it became obvious that the other people Vasir shanghaied into helping were back too – complete with a roughed up human who struggled in the grip of a pair of armoured Turians in a vain attempt to get as far as possible from Wrex's imposing form.

"Come on, Pyjak! I didn't really do anything to you!" The Krogan sounded quite irritated.

"This is police brutality! It's illegal! Wait till my lawyer hears about this! I'll sue you all!"

That gave Wrex a pause. "Me too?" He asked in a hopeful tone.

Fist, because that had to be him, suddenly paled and renewed his struggles with a new vigour. "Just get me away from him!" He pleaded.

"Wrex, old boy, what did you do to the Human?" Vasir's bearing changed again and she spoke in a sultry, seductive voice.

"I just hit him with his desk after he crawled under it. Lightly and carefully at that! It's not my fault he's a whinny little excuse for a Pyjak! And what's with the suing everyone and everything? That some king of Human cultural trait or something?" Wrex peered questionably at Shepard.

"Used to be a very big thing in one of our nation states back on Earth. Saner laws finally prevailed at the turn of the century or something." John's forehead scrunched in thought. "Those particular history lessons were quite boring..." Especially compared to early twenty first century history – which was simply surreal.

"See, my dear? I can behave myself." Wrex stopped paying attention to Shepard and graced Vasir with a teeth filled grin. "One Pyjak as ordered."

"You'll do." The Spectre nodded in obvious satisfaction. "Book him in, he won't need a lawyer, Spectre authority. Make sure someone doesn't kill him for being too irritating or something. Don't release him unless its in my or Spectre Bau's authority." Vasir ordered before tapping the relevant orders on her omni-tool and sending them in electronic format complete with her credentials.

"Will do, Spectre." One of the Turians answered and finally dragged Fist away.

"Where's Vakarian?" Vasir asked.

"Hiding." Wrex nodded at one of the ERS transports. "He doesn't appreciate my shining personality."

"You mean you went out of your way to drive the Turian insane." Vasir translated.

"He is a Turian and doesn't seem to have a proper sense of humour." Wrex explained without showing a shred remourse.

"Vakarian, drag your carcass outside, we've got things to do and places to be!" Vasir ordered aloud.

"Picking up more strays?" Shepard inquired.

"We've lost two Spectres. We still have one vacancy to fill and from his file and what little I've seen so far, Vakarian does have potential." Vasir explained.

"I must have done something to piss off all the Spirits." Garrus dragged himself out of the ERS van muttering darkly.

"By the time we make a proper Spectre of you, they'll love you." Vasir promised.

"Don't I get a choice?"

"Well, it's either that or we'll drag you around as a minion to do stuff for us."

"Stuff?" Shepard dared to ask, while wondering if he'll be able to maintain his sanity until he was free of Vasir.

"Stuff." The older Spectre nodded sagely as if explained everything. "Now, come on. We've got weapons to pick up."

Garrus perked up at that. "What weapons, why do we need them and how in the name of the Spirits did I get myself roped into this?!" Perhaps there might be a gun big enough to put down the Krogan before he decided to eat him or something…

"I'll tell you if I figure it out." Shepard commiserated. If he ever found out who nominated him for this shit, he would be damn tempted to shoot them and as a Spectre he might even be able to bullshit his way out of it!

After that brief exchange, Vasir led them into the depths of the C-SEC Academy building until they reached a bulky door. She swiped her omni-tool in front of it and a well concealed scanner on the ceiling flashed over the group. The door chimed twice before sliding away with a hiss to reveal a small bland office with a Turian in a black and blue armour sitting behind a desk. His most striking feature was the white face paint covering most of his head.

"Spectre and company, what can I do for you today?" He asked calmly.

"Shepard here needs to be put into the system, scanned and granted access to our stocks. Detective Vakarian can chose small arms from our standard selection." Vasir smirked. "I'm currently not trusting the Krogan with more firepower."

"What about me?" Tali asked quietly.

"You're along for the ride so we can keep you in one piece until we can get you home. I'll need a standard load-out as well." Vasir added.

The requisition officer lit up his omni-tool and scanned Shepard. He glanced at the results and then back at the Human before looking expectantly at Vasir.

"Keep it quiet for now, however Commander Shepard here is our newest colleague."

"I see. Saren?"

"Dirty as hell, though we have nothing substantial actually connecting him with Eden Prime."

Now it was Shepard's turn to look at Vasir.

"Captain Marius here can be trusted. Besides, he needs to know to either deny or fill up with tracking devices any care packages Saren requests while he's still officially a Spectre. The Council will be recalling him within the hour and until he refuses or fails to show up, he still legally is one of us."

"Congratulations I guess. I just wish it was under different circumstances. Come step in the back. What kind of armour and gear do you prefer?" Captain Marius asked. He pressed a button under his desk and the wall behind him opened to reveal a large armoury.

"Weaponry – medium to close range – assault rifles, shotguns, heavy pistols. I'm partial to heavy armours with enhanced mobility when available. I'm a combat engineer." Shepard listed.

"Then you'll love one of those new Serrice Council Savant omni-tools – you can't get anything better off the shelf, however our customized equipment usually is better for any given individual. You'll need to get back once you have a few spare days to get the ball rolling on personalizing gear and load-outs."

"Those cost an arm and a leg." John whistled.

"The custom gear could cost a few million or more per load-out per person – that's why you'll have to pay for it yourself once you've got the credits. You'd be surprised how many of our Spectres find it worthwhile."

"It has helped me get out of scrap or three intact." Vasir gave Wrex a pointed look.

"Your load-outs are in the right back corner, Spectre Vasir. You can outfit yourself while I'm gearing up Shepard here. What about you, Detective? I hear you're a crack shot with a sniper rifle?"

"I'm no slouch."

"Do you have any cybernetic enhancements? If that's so and if you're going after Geth as I suspect, you might want one of the Widow anti-material rifles. Otherwise, we've got various long range single shot beauties or semi-automatic Designated Marksman Rifles. Besides long range, what do you want? Heavy pistols, SMGs or assault rifles?" The Captain paused. "Shepard, you faced the Geth on the ground, right? What say you? AP or disruptor ammo for you all?"

"A mix of both. While the Geth primary do rely on their shields, we did encounter a few heavy armoured units on Eden Prime – we had to use explosives to deal with them. Basic ammo simply couldn't take them out fast enough."

"I see… I think I have just the thing… Armour wise, the best I can do is offer you some better mods – shield emitters and capacitors, reinforced, lighter plates for inserts… we simply don't have something that would fit a male human without extensive rework. Once I've got you measures I'll be making you a few suits – heavy, enhanced mobility, right? Those will go for the standard load-outs you can requisition."

"That sounds good." Shepard nodded.

"Aha!" Marius paused his scavenging through a large crate and pulled out a small light blue box. "Savant Mark VIII – the best off the shelf currently on the market. In a couple of weeks, once the IX get its bugs ironed out we'll get some of those to play with before they hit the market." He handed Shepard the box. "I'll get you some advanced feedstock for its fabricator as well as the software and schematics for some autonomous drones courtesy of STG..."

"We're going to be here the whole day, aren't we?" Wrex grumbled.

"You're just grumpy I won't let you at the nice toys at this time." Vasir shouted from the other end of the armoury.

"I would be if I saw something better than my..." Wrex trailed off while scanning the weapons from outside. "I take it back. Those singularity launchers do wicked things to people and the fact that they're short ranged doesn't really bother me..."

"Marius, be a dear and pack one of those, bill it on me." Vasir sighed. "Otherwise, we won't hear the end of it until two or three firefights in."

"You do remember!"

"You didn't stop yammering and proposing while we did our best to kill each other for days on end!" Vasir's voice was an odd mix of fondness and exasperation.

"You still haven't said _no_."

"Shooting at you or doing my best to warp your ass wasn't an answer enough?"

"That was merely an exciting foreplay!" The Krogan countered smugly.

"Keelah, I'm dreaming. Those polonium rounds must have been even worse than I feared..." Tali muttered to herself.

"I don't think either of us is that lucky, kid." Garrus whispered back.


	10. Chapter 3 Parts 1&2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**=DC=**

**Part 1**

**=DC=**

* * *

**23.04.2183GS**

**C-SEC Academy**

**The Citadel**

Wrex turned out to be right – while they didn't spent the whole day at the quartermaster, three hours after arriving, the whole group was still there. It wasn't as if they had a more pressing appointment at least until the brass came through with confirmation they could use the _Normandy_ or denied it. Just in case, once she got into her armour and geared up, Vasir went in a corner and began arranging alternative transport and checking on the clearing up house efforts in the Spectre Office. Apparently, all Spectres currently on the Citadel barring the two of them were to undergo mental screening for brainwashing among other things. Vasir at least would be in for the fun once they were back with their VIP and the jury was still out about Shepard, though John was certain that with his luck he'll end up in the interrogation room right next to Vasir.

On the bright side, the time spent with Captain Marius most certainly wasn't wasted. The Turian officer even offered everyone omni-tool blade upgrade when Shepard mentioned the Husks encountered on Eden Prime – that was something the Commander eagerly accepted. Further, now he was properly measured for a few sets of armour and Marius knew exactly how the combat engineer wanted it. The first one should be ready by the time they came back to the Citadel. He even had time to begin going over the standard mission load-outs when his omni-tool beeped a tone from an old military march announcing that he just got a high priority call.

"Lieutenant Commander Shepard speaking." He announced after accepting the connection.

"Commander, Admiral Hackett. I understand that you wish to use the _Normandy _for a VIP extraction from Therum?" A small window opened above John's active omni-tool displaying the grizzled image of the scarred Admiral.

"That is correct, sir." Reflexively, Shepard stood at attention as much as keeping the window level with his face allowed.

"I'm authorizing it. We apparently lost contact with Therum five hours ago but someone dropped the ball and it didn't raise an alert until just checked the status of the place." The Admiral looked and sounded anything but pleased. "It might have been either equipment malfunction, human error or just a bunch of pirates, however..." Hackett stared at John.

"Given the identity of the VIP, my money is on the Geth, sir. What support can we expect?"

"I'll have a cruiser and a frigate pack active in eight and twelve hours respectively, at the yards in Sol. They're the only unit I can send that will reach the place in less than three days – everything else we have either covers our core colonies and Sol or is busy racing to secure the border. We've got confirmed Geth incursion in three separate clusters and we need to contain and hunt them down you leave the Citadel in the next five hours, the cruiser should reach Therum two to three hours after you. I'll recommend you use the _Normandy _to scout and if there are Geth naval elements in system wait for reinforcements."

"I understand, sir. Hopefully, if we're able to extract the VIP, the Geth would lose interest in the system."

"I'll see what strings I can pull. We can at least use some more backup on the ground. You still don't have your full compliment of marines on the _Normandy, _is that correct?" Vasir appeared to look over Shepard's shoulder.

"And you are?" Hackett raised an eyebrow.

"Spectre Tela Vasir, Shepard's mentor.

"The last time I checked we had five effectives for deployment ground-side, me included."

"Captain Marius, get Wrex a case of Turian rations. Even if I can't scrounge a ship or two for backup on short notice, I should be able to arrange for at least a few squads of Turian marines to join us for the extraction." Vasir announced.

Something flashed over Admiral Hackett's face, though he schooled his features in a mask of polite neutrality. Shepard was sure the old warhorse wasn't pleased that he would need Council assistance to investigate and potentially save one of the SA's colonies, even if technically that was one of the benefits of being a Council Associate – in that case you did have the Turian navy on your side.

"I'll appreciate any help you and the Council can offer, Spectre Vasir." The Admiral said diplomatically. "I'm sending you the latest intelligence we have on Therum and I can promise you, you'll have reinforcements as soon as we can spare them."

"We're on it, Admiral."

"Gods speed, Shepard. Hackett out." The connection cut off.

"Shepard, get to the _Normandy _and make sure she's ready to launch as soon as we're all on board. I'm going to call Councillor Sparatus."

* * *

**=DC=**

**Council Chamber**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

While the other two Councillors did have other things to do, both of them kept an ear on Tevos' fascinating conversation with one Matriarch Aethyta.

"Let me mace sure I get it right." An acid dripping voice hissed from the Councillor's omni-tool. "My former mate, has either gone insane or is brainwashed, working with or for one of your Spectres who is himself either crazier than usual or brainwashed himself. Then those two idiots decided to go raid a Human colony with the Geth in tow sparking a galactic war. Am I missing something or not?"

"When you put it that way..." For the first time since either Valern or Sparatus had seen her, Tevos appeared genuinely uncomfortable, if not exactly lost for words. "Yes, Benezia fucked up the azure in a spectacular fashion. Yes, I need you help in unfucking the mess she made..."

Sparatus' snooping got interrupted by an incoming call. He accepted it absent-mindedly and returned his attention to his omni-tool.

"Spectre Vasir. A new development I take it?" The Councillor asked after he saw who called.

"Correct, sir. Shepard just got a call from an Admiral Hackett. The SA lost contact with Therum a few hours ago. Our educated guess is that the Geth are there to take Liara T'soni. The Alliance won't be able to respond in time with notable fleet elements. I'm requesting reinforcements from the CDF or at least a Turian ground element to facilitate the extraction of the VIP."

Sparatus took a moment to think about it. The few ships the SA had above Eden Prime were gone, complete with their black-box recorders. Then again, that super-dreadnought was present there. Any and all data they had on Geth capabilities, especially in space were centuries out of date.

"I'll get you a squadron. Get in, get the VIP out. If practical, use the _Normandy's _stealth to gather data on the Geth and if practical assist in the naval engagement if there are enemy fleet elements in system. We need to know their capabilities."

Only then Sparatus figured out that the room had became deadly silent and both Valern and Tevos stared at him. The Salarian – with approval, while the Asari with a pinched face.

"Do you mean to tell me that the Geth are going after my little girl?!" That question came from Tevos' omni-tool and was delivered in a quiet, calm and deadly voice.

"We're sending one of our best Spectres to retrieve her." This time Tevos' attempt to soother her listener fell flat.

"Just like Saren was among your best before he went either crazier than varen on red sand or compromised? Forgive me if I'll hold my breath. I'm going to get Liara myself." The line cut off.

"Should I expect complications of the Matriarch variety on Therum, Councillors? And might I, most respectfully, remind you about privacy fields being a thing?"

"Matriarch Aethyta was on Irune. Depending on available assets at a short notice, she can be eight to twelve hours behind you. Perhaps less."

"I can have a squadron leaving within the hour." Sparatus said after checking readiness reports on his omni-tool.

"I'll still request that we embark a platoon on the _Normandy. _She is a stealth ship – ideal for a quiet insertion. Am I right to believe that the retrieval of the VIP is still the primary objective, Councillors?"

"Get the girl back intact. Secondary – evaluate Geth capabilities both on the ground and in space if practical. Thertially – secure the Human colony if possible depending on correlation of forces." Sparatus ordered. "Do you have anything to add?" He asked his colleagues.

"Not at this time." Tevos shook her head.

"I'll check with STG if they can have assets in place by the time the _Normandy _arrives." Valern said.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 2**

**=DC=**

**23.04.2183 GS**

**SSV Normandy**

**Docks**

**The Citadel**

A brief exchange between Shepard, the former XO and now acting Captain Presley and Vasir led to an assault shuttle loaded with Turian marines and their gear along with rations for a short deployment arriving in _Normandy's _hangar before John and company could make it as loaded as they were with gear. While the frigate could temporarily carry more ground personnel, with limited options for insertion and retrieval, especially under fire, it was decided that there was no point of bringing more people than they could evacuate in a hurry. Once they reached the _Normandy, _a bottleneck formed at the entrance, though at least the pair of marines on guard weren't the issue – they merely saluted Shepard and once they got his orders, prepared to help carry the various containers Vasir requisitioned, bought and begged from the quartermaster.

The slow down came into the form of the mandatory decontamination sequence – the space between the inner and outer hull where the airlock was located was limited after all. John went with the first group along with Vasir, Garrus and one of the marines after stacking a third of the gear at their feet. Decontamination mist followed by a laser scanner filled the compartment before a VI announced: "Decontamination complete, welcome back Commander Shepard." The inner door of the airlock opened to reveal a scowling Commander Presley.

"Shepard, a word." He bit off before taking a good look at who else was inside and then raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Gear for the ground team." John answered. "In private or?"

"Private. Corporal Esif, show them the way to the armoury. You'll have to speak with the Quartermaster to figure out where to stash this." He waved at the containers. "He already has his hands full in finding place for the Turians."

"Go, I'll make sure that there are no incidents." Vasir waved him off and used her biotics to help haul the crates faster so the next group could board.

Presley turned around and led Shepard towards the Captain's small office. Vasir

"An explanation would be nice, Shepard. All I got was orders to make place for our new… guests and that you have operational command over the _Normandy _while I'm technically in charge of the ship. Turians, an Asari? What in God's name is happening? Why did the brass strip Captain Anderson of command?!" Presley let it out once they were alone.

Shepard sighed and leaned against the nearest bulkhead.

"In short – its a bloody mess. I don't know who back home decided to go public with what little evidence we had against Saren but that blew up in our faces. Did you watch that circus with the Council? I can tell you no one was amused at the antics Udina was made to do." Shepard shook his head in dismay – this was the first time it was relatively safe to show how he really felt about everything and a chance to vent, though not at Presley.

"I did." Presley grimaced. "That was a disgrace."

"I hear you. The good news is that despite what some claim, the Council actually knows what they're doing or do a great impression of it. They began investigating Saren the moment they got news of him possibly going rouge. While there hasn't been anything conclusively connecting him with Eden Prime until recently, their people discovered just enough dirt to have him recalled. If he shows – he's in for interrogation and if he fails to appear, then that's for his Spectre status and its open season on his ass."

"What about the tall tale Lieutenant Alenko and Sergeant Williams came back with? Someone put a bounty on you?" Presley inquired.

"Possibly Saren. C-SEC has the man supposed to facilitate it into custody and unless someone silences him he'll talk and pull it off." Shepard grimaced. "You know with the tech we all have, its too easy to fake evidence, possible to brainwash people too..." Shepard went on to explain as much about the situation as he thought prudent. Spectre or not, he needed both Presley and the rest of the _Normandy's _crew supporting him. In fact, his newfound status actually made their willing participation in whatever mission he led them on that much more vital.

"We're going after this Liara girl on Therum then." Presley nodded. "Admiral Hackett said that he'll be sending orders shortly sending the _Normandy _there and back, however I'm yet to hear from him." He looked Shepard in the eye.

"I spoke with Vasir. We won't be pulling Spectre authority on this mission unless we absolutely have to – it has been made clear enough to both of us that there are political implications at least back home if not international we aren't necessary seeing."

"Joy. You know then that I can't just get us underway haring off to Artemis Tau without authorization?" Presley asked.

"I'm well aware of that little fact. We'll be likely squared off and ready before we get the go. With the Turian contingent on board, the crew Vasir picked up should have cleared the decon and moving the rest of the gear to the hangar. A note – we have a Quarian girl with us, Tali'Zorah – she's a VIP Saren wants dead. If things pan out we might be playing taxi for her and a group of other VIPs once we're done at Therum and back to the Citadel. She's to be allowed all courtesy."

"I'll see to it. Diplomat?"

"Her father is a Quarian Admiral so the next closest thing. She got us evidence about Saren being on Eden Prime, however the jury is still out if its genuine or a plant for her to find."

"I'll make sure no one bothers her personally if I have to." Presley gave Shepard a firm nod at that explanation.

* * *

**=DC=**

An hour later, everyone was settled in as well as space on board the _Normandy _allowed, the gear was secured and had people going over it and making sure it would be ready for their expected deployment and finally, Shepard along with Vasir got their people into the frigate's briefing room behind the bridge.

On one side sat the Tela flanked by the people she conscripted or hired for the job – Wrex, Vakarian and two more Turians, a Lieutenant Fabius and Sergeant Varkas, who came to command the two squads the LT's platoon donated to the _Normandy _for the mission. Across them sat Shepard flanked by Alenko and Williams, a clear division between Humans and aliens that might prove unhealthy in the long term – an oversight he only noticed after taking up his seat.

Last to join them was Presley, who entered looking at his active omni-tool.

"Good, you're all here. I just got orders from Admiral Hackett. The _Normandy _will go to Therum to establish why we lost contact with the system and recover a VIP. We will be followed by a CDF task force made of a cruiser and frigate pack – they will be half an hour behind us giving us just enough time to reach the Knossos system and find out if there are Geth or pirate naval elements that we need to content with. He also sent us everything we've got about both the system and the planet – various maps, including archaeological sites where Ms T'soni is expected to be. No matter if there is a hostile presence in system or not, our best bet on locating her might be either calling the capital city or landing an advance party there. What Hackett's people got us in the time available indicates that Ms T'soni drifts between five distinct sites."

"If the Geth are there in force, we might just look for the largest concentration of the tin-cans." Alenko suggested.

"That might just have us fight through them unnecessary – there's no guarantee that they would have located her." The Turian Lieutenant countered. "Our primary objective is the extraction and only once the VIP is secure then we are to deal with the incursion, am I right?" He asked in a voice that was even more flanging than usual for a Turian.

"By the time we get there, whoever hit the system, unless we're lucky and it's a simple equipment malfunction preventing contact, would have had more than a day of free reign. They would have located T'soni if they're there for her. After all we might just be lucky enough to deal with pirates." Vasir pointed out.

Meanwhile, Presley sent the data to everyone's omni-tools. "Check the maps first. We'll figure out good insertion points, especially if we have to do it under fire and then plan various deployment strategies." The Acting Captain grabbed everyone's attention.


	11. Chapter 3 Parts 3&4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**=DC=**

**Part 3**

**=DC=**

* * *

**23.04.2183GS**

**Nova Yekaterinburg**

**Therum**

The whole planet was one giant shithole in the middle of nowhere. It was hotter than most deserts on a good day, there were volcanoes and rivers of lava almost everywhere and the less said about the shit flying through the thing stuff that passed for air around here, the better.

It was well known among certain circles that Zaeed Massani wasn't a fan of the heat, which was one of the reasons he was there in the first place. The other was simpler – according to most people nowadays, he was a washed up has-been drunk, which wasn't too far from the truth until recently. Once he managed to quit drinking the pain away, he found himself strapped for money, reputation shot and low on choices. When he saw an advertisement asking for independent contractors to help shore the defence of this particular hellhole, it wasn't like he had anything to lose, nor better prospects.

That was how Zaeed ended up playing rent-a-cop for the past few months and loathing every moment of it. At least Therum offered him the opportunity to get his edge back by training in extreme conditions in place where there wasn't anyone to see him embarrass himself when off shift. Occasionally he even allowed himself an evening in the local seedy bar to celebrate reaching one of his self-imposed goalposts. Now, even with his messed up face and artificial eye, his accuracy was back up to par and his endurance was getting there.

A few more months of this shit and Zaeed would be feeling well enough to get off this molten rock and go find some better paying job – not to mention, has a nice nest egg for better equipment that was kinda necessary for said better paying jobs. He looked in disgust at the local ass ugly reddish armour the EAE security got issued. Eldfell-Ashland Energy practically owned the colony and mined the heavy elements that more often than not simply poured through the rivers of lava – they also paid his salary in order to keep the workers cooped on Therum in check when the plage got to them or they simply drunk their problems away and went overboard. While Therum was supposedly a target for pirates, its primary export wasn't profitable enough nor easy enough to load and transport for most Terminus outfits to bother and if they were simply slavers – there were systems much closer to the border to hit, where they would have better odds on avoiding a vengeful navy coming after them.

By now, Zaeed had resigned himself on a very boring and onerous tour of duty. All he had to look up to was counting the days until his contract expired and he could simply leave without fucking up his reputation any more than it already was.

He sighed through the filter mask built into his helmet. At least the light armour came in with air-conditioning – kinda vital piece of kit to keep anyone outside the sealed building from cooking. With his shift over and a storm projected to hit the capital tonight, Massani headed for the nearest bar. A drink or two to "celebrate" the end of his third month here and halfway point through the contract, then he was going to hit the rack. Something to eat too for dinner – or was it breakfast after trying to stay awake the whole night with jack shit to do.

At least Boris' was still open – the place had decent enough grill, witch was often done on the lava river passing behind the building for the novelty factors to get more credits of suckers new to Therum. On the plus side, the Vodka was goon – with a case arriving from Earth once a month for those who could afford it and the grub was more often than not edible. With Zaeed keeping his drinking under control – like once or twice a month, he didn't really have issues affording the nice stuff on the rare occasions he allowed himself to partake. Besides, it was good to check if he still had his habit under control or not.

This early in the morning, the place was mostly empty, with only a few small groups of workers and guards coming off shift like him coming for either a bite or a drink. A couple of worse to wear Loki mechs stumbled through the place clearing the tables while a small dome-shaped robot scrubbed the floor. There was a single waitress leaning on the bar chatting up the barman, who looked bored out of his mind and absent-mindedly polished a glass.

Massani nodded at Evgeni – said barman who nodded back more out of reflex than recognition and headed to a free table in one of the corners that would allow him to watch the entrance. Some habits died hard and that was in fact a good thing, Zaeed reckoned.

The only downside of his chosen place was that there was a group of miners nearby. They were already well into their cups with a bottle of vodka opened between them.

"I tell you, its all bullshit!" One of them rambled. "Production up, economic upswing thanks to us and all the shit we mine… When was the last time we saw an increase in pay or benefits?"

Zaeed couldn't say he disagreed – the very reason he got hired in the first place was that business for EAE was booming and they feared that either pirates or "pirates" sponsored by the competition might hit Therum. That however didn't mean their peons saw much if any benefit. Well, that wasn't strictly speaking true – he had a combat pay clause in his contract, however what were the odds he would be able to cash in on that? Its mere existence however, put him head and shoulders of those poor suckers scrapping through the lava for living – and they made more than half of the thirty five thousand or so souls stuck in this hell with him. The others were support personnel with a smattering of management types, small business owners, the local garrison – which was tiny enough to warrant a lot of ERS security types like him and various unlucky sods who had to bring their families on Therum of all places.

"I hear you, brother..." Another miner moaned in his cup. At least the waitress noticed him and sashayed his way. Not a bad looking bird for someone stuck in this place, though not of the calibre working the evening shifts. "I'm for Terra Firma because of this shite! They'll fix it up, I tell you!"

"Bollocks..." Another miner snorted. "They're all the same bastards…"

Zaeed had to agree with that one.

"Why not? It's not like the Allance knows whats is doing..." A different voice added – one obviously belonging to someone already deep in his cups.

"They'll leave us to hang by ourselves." A so far silent miner grumbled. "That's why there's more and more of his kind." He waved a cup at Zaeed who simply stared back with a disinterested expression on his face. "We're supposedly important here! Do we have ships in orbit protecting us? Heh, there're more mercenaries down here keeping order and to keep pirates away than army!"

That, Zaeed couldn't disagree with. There was a company of SA soldiers in their base on the other side of the capital. Law enforcement, unless there were capital cases or hell, protecting the mining operations spread all over the planet was left to EAE to really handle. A few AA towers spread around the town and that was it. Back in the day, before first contact and the following colonization boom, a world like Therum would have seen at least a regiment on the ground given its importance, a small task force in orbit too. Nowadays? Considering it was quite deep in human space and as importantly reasonably far from the Batarians and Terminus, the place was almost as lightly defended as they came.

That was another reason Massani chose it – a quiet gig to show he can still cut it while getting his edge back. Well, just as the waitress came with his drinks and confirmation that his synthetic steak would be ready in couple of minutes, the raid alarms so far only sounded with as tests with liberal warning beforehand, came to life at full blast.

"God, damn it!" Zaeed cursed.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 4**

**=DC=**

**23.04.2183GS**

**Nova Yekaterinburg**

**Therum**

Zaeed Massani knew orbital strikes all too well – he had fought on too many hellholes that no matter how hard you squinted nor all the rules lawyering could pretend to be Garden Worlds. Therum, the lave covered slice of hell was no different. So it shouldn't have come as a surprise that when he ran out of the bar with his trusty rifle unfolded in his arm, he saw KE rounds streaking through the ash choked sky soon to slam in the general vicinity of the garrison. So much for the army boys and girls being of assistance. Even as he watched, the ordnance vanished behind the higher buildings in the centre of the capital and he threw himself on the ground on reflex. Light flashed and the ground jumped to meet his armoured face while deafening thunder clapped over the town and shattered many of the reinforced windows. The rest of the shock-wave followed throwing all kind of shit everywhere – from mere gravel to chunks of melted rock and sturdier pieces picked up from the vicinity of the now gone military installation. Irony of ironies, the one positive benefit of the orbital strike was that at least temporarily it cleared the air from most ash and other stuff usually mixed in – something no doubt the infernal planet was going to address with a vengeance.

The mercenary dragged himself to his feet and looked around – there were a few more rent-a-cops like him and even a pair of SA troopers lucky enough not to be in their former base.

"We need reinforcements yesterday!" Zaeed heard one of the soldiers scream in his omni-tool.

"The comm array has been down for almost a day!" A tiny panicked voice shouted back. "We were about to call for spare parts delivery when the cargo ships arrived tonight!"

Of all the rotten luck…

"Who the fuck hit us and why aren't the towers shooting back?!"

"The first thing we knew was when those ships got into high orbit and opened fire! They're staying out of effective range!"

"They're going to either take those towers out from orbit or send a ground element to deal with them if they need the rest of the town more or less intact." Zaeed suggested.

"I'm not detecting any more shots incoming, however there's heavy jamming! Even if the comm array was up we couldn't call anyone!"

"We need to get everyone in the shelters. Who's up there? Batarians? Geth?!" The soldier demanded.

Now that Massani took a good look at him, he saw the Sergeant's insignia on the shoulder smeared with dirt from where he too had hit the ground during the bombardment.

"Nothing I've seen before and the computer can't ID them so probably Geth..."

"Fuck my life..." Zaeed groaned. Pirates and slaver he could handle. Murder robots with who know what capabilities? Why did he quit drinking anyway?!

"Wait, I'm getting something on the short range scanner…" whoever the Sergeant called – probably the controllers in the Starport, now sounded even more terrified.

"Your right, they're sending in a ground element." The Sergeant looked around. "Get those civies in the shelters – if those are Geth, there must be something in the town they want otherwise they would have simply erased us from orbit. If they get it… They can't get it." The man muttered stubbornly.

Zaeed couldn't really disagree – that was his take on the current mess as well. Well, the Geth might leave after they got whatever they wanted, however before the comms went down enough news came from Eden Prime to be known that the robots left behind enough nukes to glass the colony. He cursed again – what did the machines want from this hole?! They had their own corner of the galaxy for themselves! They couldn't be here for the heavy metals ready to be shipped off world… then again, why not? It would deny some resources to the SA, especially if they bombed the mining operations off the planet and they might be able to use the ready for loading haul at the spaceport… There was just one flaw in that theory – if that was the case, the Geth would have already plastered the town instead of sending ground units in. He left with another curse and patched into the EAE security net and winced at the sound of multiple people trying to establish control.

"Sergeant Massani reporting." He pinged the net with his location. "Requesting orders."

"Sergeant Massani," A new, calmer voice that might have been a VI, contacted him. "Uploading a rally point. Gather a squad, sweep the designated area and escort any stragglers to a shelter. We've got confirmed hostiles incoming. ETA one minute. Once your sector is clear of civilians, move to point Delta and protect the tower until advised otherwise. Control, out."

Massani wasted no more time and ran.

* * *

**=DC=**

Five minutes later, after forming a scratch squad at the rally point and moving in to secure his designated area, Zaeed was already neck deep in flash-heads. If the damn robots weren't trying to punch his number, their damn design would be hilarious! Who made their robot troopers with flash-lights in the centre of the head?!

The bastards were tough and accurate – he had to give them that, not that it was a surprise, they were machines after that. Their weapons were nasty – two of the privates he picked up died without knowing what hit them when a Geth drop-ship screamed above their heads and deployed three robots behind them. Whatever they used as munitions simply tore through the luckless bastards shields as if they weren't there before perforating their their heads and neck. At least their death allowed the rest of the squad to scatter and return fire. Then the next unpleasant surprise came – those flash-heads had powerful shields and only Zaeed had disruptor ammo available. The others needed to focus fire to take out the enemy and that was enough for the robots – even as Massani decapitated one with a sustained burst and a second got blasted by the other five mercenaries, the last Geth methodically shot two of them in the head before the others got behind solid cover.

"Control, Sergeant Massani. We need disruptor ammo and tech support. The Geth units have powerful shields." He called while signing at a Corporal to draw the last Geth's attention.

The man nodded grimly and shouted to one of the remaining privates. A moment later the two of them showed as little as they could over the cover and opened fire. The Geth managed to blast off the back of the private's head before Zaeed could take aim and return the favour. A movement in the air down a side street goth the mercenary's attention and he got back under cover as fast as he could.

"Company, four o'clock!" Zaeed shouted a warning. Just in time too, because a pair of drones came screaming at them and opened fire. They caught the Corporal in a bad spot – he just dashed to shift cover and turned simply turned his torso into a gory mess.

Zaeed sent a few burs at the drones before displacing and this time his luck shifted – he heard one of the machines whine in distress before a sharp explosion sounded behind him. The other one followed him and came in straight into the sights of his remaining men. They did a short work of it but not before it managed to blow off the head of another mercenary.

What was with those Geth and head-shots?!

"Form on me." Zaeed barked. "Control, Sergeant Massani – we encountered a Geth fire-team with drone support and took them out." He reported. "We suffered heavy casualties however. I'm down to two effectives, the others are KIA. Continuing sweep and requesting reinforcements."

"Sergeant Massani, Control. Be advised, we're encountering Geth air-drops all over the town. The towers are doing what they can to keep enemy air-support at bay. Finish the sweep and displace to point Delta ASAP. You'll link with reinforcements there. Control, out."

"God, damn it!" Zaeed spat. "You two, watch my ass. I'm taking point."


	12. Chapter 3 Parts 5&6

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**=DC=**

**Part 5**

**=DC=**

* * *

**SSV Normandy**

**en route to Therum**

Settling everyone and their gear in, preliminary planning for insertion under fire once they got to Therum, making sure all the kids played nice with each other, especially the Krogan and the Turians… it all took more energy than Shepard expected. Perhaps he wasn't one hundred percent yet after the Beacon tried to fry his brain – he found himself too tired after a few long but otherwise not really strenuous days. At least not physically anyway… The Commander resigned himself to a stint in one of the zombie capsules as the crew dubbed them before checking Williams file at last and having a talk with her and the rest of the crew. He should have the time at least – they were fifteen hours away from Therum still.

Six hours later, Shepard sat in the mess hall nursing a cup of steaming synthetic coffee made to naval standards – it was thick enough that his spoon could stand straight up in the centre of the mug with a ton of sugar for that extra energy kick… and to hide the distinct tang of synthetic caffeine. Real coffee was damn expensive nowadays. Too many people – human and Asari loved the stuff yet there were only two other planets besides Earth where you could grow it reasonably cheaply. Supply lagged far behind demand so most people had to rely on synthetic caffeine. or other, stronger stimulants to stay awake. Hell, couple of Asari herbal teas with similar purpose but odd sweet taste were much cheaper to procure because they could be grown on most Garden Worlds.

Shepard took a sip of the hot coffee and now that he felt awake if not really rested thanks to some very odd dreams, which should have been very unlikely while stuck in the pod, looked down at the pad on the table. It contained Williams' file, which the _Normandy _had thanks to the Acting Captain being on the ball and procuring it once it became clear the Sergeant would be more or less permanent addition to the crew. The Commander grimaced at that – replacement more like, they did loose too many people against the Geth. First Jenkins, the kid was both too full of adrenaline and anger at his home being under attack to keep calm. He never stood chance when those drones caught him in the open. Private Harvey followed – a Geth sniper took off her head… Corporal Yamada got torn apart when those husks swarmed them… Shepard closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

Eden Prime was bad, certainly much worse than Elysium or most of his black missions and he had the sinking suspicion things would only get worse before the situation could improve. He took another hefty swing from his coffee to distract himself from those morose thoughts and returned his attention to the file. It was both enlightening and a reason to go speak with the Gunny ASAP. He finished his beverage and checked on William's location. If she was on a rest period, the conversation could wait a bit considering that they would be likely in combat sooner rather than later.

"Gunnery Sergeant Williams is at the Armoury in the Hangar." Normandy's primary VI informed him. Shepard carried his cup to be washed and headed for the stairs. While the cargo elevator could carry great weight – it was meant to move all kinds of equipment and repair supplies through all decks of the ship, the damn thing was _slow _as hell. Alenko already vowed to do something about it if he found the free time, but as far as the Commander knew, there was no such luck yet.

A few minutes later, he arrived in the hangar and looked around. Wrex dozed off on a stack of crates, Vakarian and two more Turians were on top of the Mako fiddling with the weapon systems, which made both Shepard's eyebrows go up. He had to go see what was that about, but first he finished his sweep of the compartment. The rest of the Turians were in or around their shuttle. Most of them had either slept or maintained their gear – the same was true for Williams who was working on something at the workbench in the corner of the hangar, besides the lockers for the ground element. In the opposite corner of the compartment, the frigate's quartermaster sat on a crate and had both his omni-tool and a pad lit up and was busy glancing between them. Doing inventory check most likely.

Williams first, Shepard decided. Then he might as well check on the rest of the crew. Spectre or not, he was technically the XO now and making sure the ship ran as well as possible was part of his responsibilities – at least until the brass unfucked the complication created of an active duty officer being a Spectre. He didn't really hold his breath on that one. Experience taught him that whatever the solution it would be a pain in the ass.

"Gunnery Sergeant Williams, a word." Shepard said after walking next to the busy NCO. Now that he came closer he could see she had a Lancer assault rifle disassembled on the workbench and running diagnostic.

"Commander, sir!" The young woman jumped. "I didn't see you come in." She put down a diagnostic tool and gave him a proper salute, which he returned.

"I won't mince words, Williams. I finally had the opportunity to go over your file."

For the second time since entering the hangar, Shepard's eyebrows did their best to climb up straight into his short hair. At the mention of her file, Williams went pale and her posture got defensive.

"This is about my grandfather, isn't it, sir?" Her tone was just the right side of disrespect, angry and resigned.

"Tangentially and I'm pretty sure not in the way you just assumed, Gunny." Shepard's thoughts raced. This reaction most certainly wasn't what he expected. What was omitted from her file, he wondered?

"So you don't want me off your ship at the next friendly port because of who my grandfather was?" Williams suspiciously stared in his eyes.

That made a light lit up in Shepard's head and he felt like face-palming. But first to make sure this time it he wasn't the one making assumptions and an ass of himself…

"Would you explain what you mean about your grandfather, Gunny? Assume that I'm a clueless idiot." Shepard suggested.

"You've read my file, sir. You know who my grandfather was. When General Williams decided to surrender what was left of his command and thus Shanxi, well that destroyed his reputation in the military and blacklisted our family. I'm the highest ranked Williams or a close relation in either the army or the navy and with the exception of my younger sisters everyone in the family has done their duty and multiple tours of duty. We don't lack ability, sir, however the brass simply don't trust us."

That… sounded both ridiculous and all too plausible at the same time. He thought about the file and now knew why Williams hasn't received a very strong suggestion to attend OCS. Shepard could read between the lines after all and what was in her file… he bit off a curse. Now, he had no way to know if she saw her family through a rose tinted glasses or if what she just told him was the honest truth as she knew it. On the other hand, such a belief both explained what was in her file, the likely truth of it and how and why it got there… Perhaps it would be prudent to check what other relations she had in the military, including those that already got out, their files too, if he could access them.

"Williams, you're the third youngest Gunnery Sergeant in the Corps. You obviously don't lack ability. The reason why you haven't been recommended for officer training, at least according to your file, is because you have something to prove and until that is resolved no one is going to trust you with an officer billet and responsibilities."

At that explanation, Williams became ghostly white.

"Should I worry you would go all gun ho and get yourself or someone else killed? I must admit, what I saw back on Eden Prime and that entry in your file don't really align. My second concern is your noted distrust of aliens, which given your family history isn't particularly surprising. However, right now we're working under Spectre authority – despite my new status, this is Vasir's show. The specialists she gathered are capable, not to mention the Turian marines – if they were anything but very good they wouldn't have been a part of the CDF. Can you work with them without problems? I'm not asking you to like them, merely act with the integrity and courtesy that your rank and their status as allies demand."

"I… I think so, sir." Williams took a few deep breaths and exhaled loudly. "It's just not easy, especially with the Turians crawling all over the place." She glared at the trio on top of the Mako. "Sir, this is supposed to be the Alliance's newest and most advanced ship! Why are you letting aliens all over the place? To poke around the most vital systems – engines, weapons, sensors?" Williams sounded genuinely confused as she asked.

There was also the implication that as a Spectre himself, he could actually do something about this despite Vasir's presence on board.

Shepard chuckled at that question and earned himself a dark look. "Gunny, the _Normandy _is a joint project with the Turian Hierarchy. It's not a stretch to say that they did the heavy lifting as far as tech transfers and solving engineering problems was concerned. They already know everything that is there to know about the technical capabilities of this ship. Once we've proven the concept, they have the budget and shipbuilding capacity to build a few orders of magnitude more ships like her than we could afford or really need." He explained.

"I… thats..." Williams mouth opened and closed a few times.

"You don't trust our allies, do you, Gunny?" Shepard asked quietly.

Williams looked torn before she made up her mind and spoke. "I'm not sure I'll call the Council our allies, sir. We, Humans, Humanity as a whole, need to learn to rely on ourselves. They… they don't really need to be racist, or even hate us or something to merely put the well being and prosperity of their own people in front of ours. It would simply be the natural thing to do, sir." Williams shrugged.

"Standing on our own two feet and for ourselves doesn't mean we should stand alone, Gunny." He waved at the Turians. "Look at them – they don't have anything at stake at Therum. Not their colony, letting it get mauled by either Geth or pirates would arguably be better for the Council because then their corporations could pick up the slack of lost heavy element mining and refining, you name it. Yet, they're here with us, ready to fight and die to secure one of our worlds."

"I don't think we should turn down allies, sir. It's just we shouldn't bet everything on them staying allies. Would they still back us if there are Turian, Asari or Salarian worlds under threat? Would any of those aliens be here if that VIP we're going to retrieve wasn't the daughter of an important Asari Matriarch?" Williams looked morosely at the Commander.

"That's a very pessimistic view of the universe, Gunny."

"A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist, sir." Williams grimaced. "Look, sir, if you're fighting a bear, or rampaging killer robots and the only way to survive is to sick your dog on them, you'll do it. No matter how much you love or care about your dog, it isn't human." She grimaced. "The Council, the Turian, Asari and Salarian military – their job is to see that their people come first. Their species will always be more important to them that us humans or anyone else. Its simply natural."

"I've heard such sentiments before, a lot of times in fact. Yours seem more deep than most." Shepard concluded.

"Sir, my family has protected the Alliance since its foundation. My father, grandfather, great-grandmother, most of my cousins – we all took the Oath of Service and swore to protect the alliance, its interests and thus humanity as a whole. It's just that we've been so long at it that we tend to see Earth's interests as our own."

"I see." Shepard noted. He didn't miss the implication of Williams seeing Earth interests as synonymous of those of humanity's as a whole or the SA's. Granted, most of humanity was still in Sol with Earth being the most populated place in the system, naturally. "I can see where your concerns are coming from, Williams. However, this mission and at least the next three we've got lined up for us, will be multilateral. You'll have to work closely with aliens, rely on them to watch your back and do the same for them, no matter if you like it or not. Can I rely on you, Gunnery Sergeant?"

"It won't be a problem, Commander!" Williams straightened up. "You tell me to jump, I'll ask 'how high' while in the air. You tell me to kiss a Turian, I'll ask which cheek."

"I don't think kissing Turians will be necessary." Shepard smirked. "Besides, the one we'll have for longer on board already has an admirer back on the Citadel." Shepard glanced at Vakarian thinking about Dr Micael's reaction when she found out he was part of the group that rescued her.

"You can never know, Commander." Williams demonstrated a bit of levity.

"Carry on, Gunny." Shepard left the Sergeant to her maintenance and headed for the Turians molesting his Mako.

"Vakarian, what did the poor tank ever did to you?"

"It's a poor tank." Garrus dead-paned thus earning himself a scowl from Shepard.

"That's no tank, merely an IFV with pretentious of grandeur." One of the other Turians snerked.

"I'll let you know..." Shepard launched himself into a tirade protecting his baby.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 6**

**=DC=**

**SSV Normandy**

**en route to Therum**

Shepard left the Turians to their attempts to "better" the targeting and weapon systems of the Mako – as long as they didn't break them he was content. Besides, his primary experience with the light tank was driving it and thus not operating its weaponry. However, he did receive complains that it was hard to hit things – primary slavers and other assorted pirate scum, while he drove and did his best not to get hit. Perhaps, the Turians did have a point – at least as far as the remote weapon station was concerned.

At least they were happy calibrating the guns and caused no problems that would generate paperwork for him… unless they either broke or made a significant upgrade on the targeting system. Then he would have the quartermaster on his ass or have to write a detailed memo to the brass so the upgrades could be spread through the Mako park.

A look around confirmed that Wrex was still sleeping and he looked comfortable too – something Shepard had a hard time wrapping his head around. He had to use similar crates as a makeshift bed twice and his back protested for a week afterwards on both occasions. Perhaps it was that infamous Krogan redundant physiology. The Commander shrugged and headed for main engineering to check on Chief Engineer Adams and Tali – as the most protected compartment in the ship, Shepard had little qualms in sticking their Quarian VIP in there. Besides in case of battle damage, she could be useful – she had to be considering what he knew about the Quarians. They learned how to fix up damaged ship with scrap and space-tape as soon as they learned to walk – it was either that or often dying when something critical failed. And as far as her learning secrets about the _Normandy, _especially her core… while a concern, he trusted Adams to keep his guest out of the really sensitive equipment and information.

Now it was time to see if Andams shared a similar sentiment.

"Commander!" The Chief Engineer greeted after he heard the armoured door open and glanced over his shoulder. He was at one of the monitoring stations of the Tantalus Core with Tali standing nearby simply staring at said device.

"Chief Engineer. I trust everything is all right?"

"I must say, for a prototype our girl handles great! We haven't had any issues since fixing that feedback loop from the heat-sinks. Just regular maintenance and equipment check to make sure we're in top shape when we hit Therum."

"I'm glad to hear it. I wasn't too happy when I learned her first trip was more than a regular shake-down cruise." Shepard confided.

"Me neither. Hell, Commander, if that feedback was a bit worse we would have had to cut off the stealth systems or cook while sneaking around the Geth on Eden Prime." Andams admitted.

Shepard winced. Heat management was always an issue on a ship. Too much heat and system performance progressively degraded until overhead, not to mention what happened to the crew. Too little and well, everyone could freeze. In fact heat management and charge build-up around the core were the two primary concerns governing ships endurance both in combat and in travel distance. Even a small frigate as the _Normandy _usually had enough fuel to reach farther than systems with planets that would allow discharge allowed, which in turn was what capped exploration and colonization to a relatively small sphere around the Relays. Looking at a map of the galaxy one might conclude that most of it was explored and controlled by the Citadel alliance and its associates when in fact… what was the number? Two or three percent of real estate was actually explored. That still made for a great deal of systems, habitable planets and sources of raw material. It just paled in comparison to the rest of the galaxy.

"I'm very glad you managed to fix it and I thank you for it, we all owe you one. If you need anything..."

"I'll hold you to that, Commander." Adams smiled. "Right now we're well stocked and have everything under control."

"No issues with your guest?"

"Tali?" Adams shook his head. "Nah, she's great. If I had a few more like her I could build you a bigger, better _Normandy. _She knows her way around an engine room."

"Carry on." Shepard said and went to join Tali in watching the large pulsing eezo sphere. She had been so absorbed in her vigil that he doubted she ever heard a word of his conversation with Adams.

"It's something else, isn't it?" Shepard asked.

"Ah! Shepard!" Tali jumped making him chuckle.

"Hey, calm down."

"It's great..." The Quarian trailed off. "I… with so much eezo you could have built a whole frigate pack!" Tali exclaimed. "And its so quiet..." She added quietly and looked at the deck.

"It's worth it. If it wasn't for it and the stealth systems, we wouldn't have made it past the Geth at Eden Prime."

"I can see how that can be useful… its just that the fleet has very different priorities."

"I understand." Shepard nodded. You didn't need an aerospace engineering degree to figure it out – it was no secret that the Quarians had trouble keeping their ships operational. Great many of them could spent months if not more in a dedicated dock and were in a need of a serious overhaul. An expense the Quarians simply couldn't afford – not when they had the largest fleet in the galaxy and the smallest population of any known species. "What was that about being too quiet?"

"Back home there was always some kind of noise – life support, gravity, something. If it got quiet, then something had gone terribly wrong and had to be fixed yesterday."

"Ah." That certainly wasn't his experience. While the SA's ships weren't the most advanced in the galaxy, with the _Normandy _being a notable exception, the in age, their fleet was the youngest with the only reason older ships were being decommissioned being that some of them were simply obsolete death-traps if they had to face anything but the oldest and worst maintained pirate raiders. That was a painful lesson that the navy learned above Elysium. The few newer ships on station survived the battle intact. Most of the system defence fleet made primary by old designs dating from before first contact, only one survived and that was the ship that saw most upgrades. So in contrast, as far as Shepard was concerned, silence aboard a ship meant everything worked; otherwise, there would be alarms screaming all over the place.

"Did you have time to compile what you know about recovering Geth data cores?" Shepard changed the topic.

"That? I got it done couple of hours ago. I would have come to you but Lieutenant Alenko told me you were sleeping." Tali bounced, eager to help and strike a blow against the Geth. She activated her omni-tool and looked at him. "I can send it to you now!" She chirped eagerly.

"That would be great. I can say that not only I but the Alliance too appreciates this gesture. Earlier, you said something about better equipment making the recovery easier?"

"I believe so." Tali nodded happily. "All I have right now is older model civilian omni-tool. With it cutting to the data-core, hacking into it and recovering the information was hard enough. I didn't have the time nor the resources to even try to prevent it from wiping itself out or physically self-destructing."

"So two or more people working together might have better luck?"

"Especially if they have deactivated Geth units to train on."

"That's a good idea." Shepard made a mental note to add that to his report after going over what Tali sent him. "How are you, really? The good Doctor gave you a clean bill of health, however as good as she is she hasn't have opportunity to practice on Quarians before."

"As well as could be expected after being shot with radioactive munitions. I'm practically swimming in immuno-boosters and antibiotics and so far the worst thing I've got is a fever. I got really lucky." Tali shuddered at that thought.

"I can assure you, Fists people won't trouble you again. C-SEC has him into custody and unless I've misread Vasir, once they have everything he knows, he'll be suffering an accident."

"So the Spectre can keep her good relationship with the Shadow Broker… That's not what most people expect from her kind or should I say, yours now. As a Quarian on the other hand, I can't say I'm really surprised. We don't have especially high opinion of the Council and those who work for them."

"I can't possibly comment."

Shepard left Tali to her vigil. A check with the VI showed that Alenko and most of the marines had went to sleep shortly before he got up, so they would be under for another four or five hours. While the pods could compress the need for sleep even further, that didn't mean it was a good idea if you had the option to get at least six hours of sleep – in fact using them that way was of a much greater benefit being the equivalent to up to twelve in the rack. That further helped people who found it hard to operate efficiently on four to six hours of shut-eye or less – something that was often required once the shit hit the fan. Shepard himself for example needed about eight hours, enough danger to nicely kick the adrenaline in or a lot of caffeine to feel alive if he had slept less than eight hours or so in a standard day. In that regard, the zombie-pods were godsend.

Now, what was next on his agenda? Check on Vasir and go over Tali's memo...


	13. Chapter 3 Part 7&Interlude

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**=DC=**

**Part 7**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**SSV Normandy**

**en route to Therum**

A few hours before they reached Therum, Shepard sat in the mess hall surrounded by the tech specialists who would be deploying ground-side. The only two available on the SA side were Alenko and himself, with the other three being Turians – Vakarian who had picked a thing or two either during his days in the military or later in C-SEC and two of the marines on secondment from the CDF.

"This might work," Sergeant Varkas tapped a claw on her chin. "We'll have access to more processing power, generally better software attack packages, however ours won't be specifically built to tackle Geth software. Its curious they're still using compatible systems three hundred years late."

"I won't look this particular gift horse in the mouth." Alenko interjected.

"I don't think that translated properly." Vakarian looked strangely at the LT. "Why would you kiss a horse, whatever that is?"

"Translator glitch." John chuckled. "Its an expression meaning don't question your good fortune."

"Ah." The Turians nodded in understanding. "It would be for the best if we have one person going after the data itself with another dealing with the self-destruct." Garrus continued. "As long as the physical drive is more or less intact, we can always recover something."

"That's great in the long term, however merely recovering data cores before they can slag themselves wouldn't really give us access to immediately actionable information and if there are Geth on the ground, that would be something that could be vital." Alenko pointed out. "Ms Zorah admitted she got very lucky to recover as much data as she did."

"It might not be immediately helpful for this deployment, however recovering samples of Geth software and as many intact data cores as possible would allow our E-War specialists to build tailored software packages targeting the Geth and make us jobs easier in the future. We should deploy in pairs, with the odd one pairing with a demolitions expert who will do their best to prevent the self-destruct." Shepard suggested.

"That would be for the best." Sergeant Varkas agreed. "Still nothing from your colony?"

"Not a peep." Shepard grimaced. "The odds of this being merely an equipment malfunction were remote since the start. Now? We'll either deal with pirates or Geth. The only question is if we'll get there in time to do anything but bury the bodies and clean up any unpleasant surprises left behind."

* * *

**=DC=**

**24.04.2183 GS**

**Spectre offices**

**The Citadel**

Jondum Bau loathed the loyalty screening meant to ensure no one brainwashed you or stuck implants in your head while no one was looking. He had to spent the past twelve hours stuck into interrogation room with only a brief bathroom break answering questions. If that wasn't enough, he was covered with all kinds of equipment to back up the scanners built into the room and brought by the STG and CDF personnel conducting the screening. Answering multiple groups of subtly different questions while people scanned him on the atomic level was no fun, the cocktail of supposedly harmless drugs to untie his tongue – those made him babble and going down from them was going to suck Krogan quad.

"Congratulations, Spectre, it seems you're still yourself." A very chipper young Salarian beamed at him.

"You know, when the time comes for your next screening, I'll make sure to be the one leading it."

"Ah. Vindictive when irritated once the drugs begin to dissipate..." The young man nodded happily and made another note on his omni-tool.

"Are we done here? I do have job to get back to." Bau grumbled.

"You're cleared, Spectre." A Turian marine offered him a cup with stimulants tailored for his physiology. Those drugs were meant to counteract and make it easier to get over all the others that replaced too much of his blood during the cursed screening process.

Bau snatched the offered drink and gulped it in one breath doing his best not to let even a drop hit his tongue. He knew from experience in the STG that the damn thing was effective… it tasted like shit too. He closed his eyes and waited for a few moments for the stimulants to kick in and the STG people to get all the scanners and monitoring devices off him before heading to the showers in the back of the Spectre Offices.

Half an hour later, Bau emerged feeling marginally better. The scalding hot shower and a set of clean clothes did wonders for him. Now that he was able to think more or less straight again, it was time to get back to work. First he went to the STG Captain leading the circus – Kirrahe of the Third Infiltration Regiment. He and his unit had been stationed as a part of the CDF and thus they got the joyful job of helping the Spectres clean up house.

"Captain, did you find anyone compromised? Backdoors in our systems? Listening devices?" Bau asked.

"Nothing that some extra PTSD can't explain, however as you know more than half the Spectres are currently deployed all over the galaxy. We'll need to screen them as well. On the technical front – there are multiple setups that allow remote access to the Spectre databases, however with your authority, no matter how irregular..." Kirrahe shrugged.

"It could be done out of convenience no matter it breaks protocol."

"Something every single one of your people has the authority to do if they deem it necessary."

"Saren is one of them, isn't he?"

"He is and we're monitoring his connection. We can't find a trace he has attempted access since before Eden Prime. I have a CDF network security unit going through everything he has touched and we can trace for the past couple of years. At least we'll have better idea what he has compromised if nothing else."

"Less than ideal." Bau concluded. "Please keep me up to date, Captain and thank you for your prompt response." He turned around and headed for his desk. It was time to see what mess Vasir managed to get into since they separated and forward her any and all intelligence that might come in useful when she got to Therum.

* * *

**=DC=**

**24.04.2183GS**

**Cronos Station**

**Anadius**

Jack Harper, better known as the Illusive Man, sat with his back turned towards his desk and contemplatively gazed at the Red giant Anadius, the star that his station orbited and used as concealment thanks to the periodic radiation bursts that made its detection almost impossible unless you knew what you were looking for. It was a nice bolthole – out of the way with nothing really useful in the general vicinity to tempt people to visit and thus served Cerberus purposes.

Anadius was clearly visible through the reinforced and shielded window – the giant was so big and close enough to see its surface ripple thanks to the intense gravity and fusion reaction that kept the star going. It was a beautiful, awe inspiring sight that never failed to remind Jack how vulnerable and small Humanity was in the grand scheme of things. It was a sad fact that it was up to him and those like him to keep their whole species safe and if at all possible, push Humanity to fulfil its destiny. Sadly, the Systems Alliance proved again and again that it wasn't up to the task. The Blitz, all the pirate and slaver raids that went unpunished out of fear of confrontation with the Batarians…

Jack's expression darkened. Torfan should have been a stepping stone – the first step in bringing the Batarians to heel, instead, the Alliance backed down and nothing really changed. The Batarians continued to fund pirates and slavers, that scum went on hitting Human colonies and no one dared make the bastards pay! The Alliance had a priceless opportunity to make a stand for Humanity as a whole and when in the spotlight, it blinked and backed down.

When he learned about Eden Prime, Jack wasn't surprised. Something like that was merely a question of time. Why should anyone take the Alliance, Humanity as a whole, seriously when they refused to fight for what was theirs and let their people suffer the predations of the alien alone? The only surprise was that a Council Spectre led the attack and that it was the Geth who struck instead of the Batarians or their proxies. Then again, why wouldn't they when the prize was a Prothean beacon in the hands of the one polity that showed it could be walked over with no repercussions?

Another thing that didn't surprise Jack was the Council's reaction – they were busy to dismiss the evidence of their golden boy turning rogue, or perhaps he wasn't rogue but merely acting with the quiet approval of his masters? What better way to show the upstart Humans their place than to let them suffer under the non-existent mercies of deniable assets? And even if the Council had nothing to do with the attack, they still betrayed their true colours – what use was to be an Associate when the supposed protectors of the galactic peace were nowhere in sight when you were attacked? Shepard being made a Spectre, a few ships sent at Therum… but not really to help protect a Human colony but to extract the daughter of an important Asari, one who might very well be neck deep with the Geth…

This couldn't go on. For decades now, Cerberus under the Illusive Man's leadership did its best to protect Humanity from the shadows. They had their successes and failures, managed to get justice for some of the attack on human colonies, did what the Alliance wouldn't dare to advance human technology and interests… However, it simply wasn't enough! Eden Prime was a proof of that and despite expecting it, Jack couldn't help it but feel that letting it happen was a failure on his part.

Cerberus needed to do more, more than it could ever achieve in the shadows. And no matter how he felt about it, there were enemies in home who threatened Humanity as much as any alien. Enemies who Cerberus hadn't dared touch so far.

Jack looked down at his forgotten cigar and pulled out a fresh one before lighting it up and taking a deep breath of calming smoke. He exhaled slowly a stream of smoke and now that he was calmer, thought about the situation back home. There were elections coming and with Eden Prime disaster, there was an opportunity to be had. It was high time for the guardian dog to slip its leash and take charge.

Humanity needed better weapons, ships, better soldiers and as if not importantly, better leadership. If the SA wasn't up to the task, Jack Harper and his likely minded acquaintances would make it so. Anything less was unacceptable. In the aftermath of the First Contact War he vowed over the graves of his friends that he would see to it that Humanity would not be a victim again – a vow he still struggled to fulfil. No more! The Alliance had to change and he would make it so even if he had to drag it kicking and screaming into the future!

Harper swung around in his leather chair put away his cigar and switched on his computer. It was time to make some calls and throw all possible Cerberus resources behind the right people on the political arena.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Interlude: Alliance Intelligence I**

**=DC=**

_In summary, there are three main reasons why a potential direct confrontation against the Batarian Hegemony is winnable. First, unless there is a radical political realignment, the SA can expect the Council to remain neutral or even supportive of Humanity in case of such a conflict. Second, due to the Council using all available sanctions and covert operations by STG and Spectre assets (unconfirmed at this time as anything but direct retaliation for Batarian sponsored piracy) to weaken the Hegemony and force it to change. That has led the Batarian economy to enter a vicious cycle of stagnation and shrinking that has lasted for centuries now. _

_Third – due to the aforementioned factors, the general readiness, maintenance and technological level of the Batarian Navy is considered equal or __lower__ than ours…_

_In conclusion, despite popular belief, it is not the Council, nor the Councillors who run the galaxy. They are ultimately responsible to their governments and said governments impose restrains and goals that guide their actions. Our analysis based on all available sources is that in the aftermath of the Krogan Rebellions, the primary function of the Council became fostering economic prosperity to facilitate recovery from that conflict and the Rachni War that came before it. The Councillors of the time were so successful in bringing a golden age to the galaxy under their aegis that maintained the status quo in turn became the primary objective of the Council and the three governments backing it…_

_While we only have publicly available information about the Geth-Quarian war, the AI believes that the Council of the time and the Turian, Asari and Salarian governments knew at least as much if not more than the Quarian remnant about the conflict, how it began and what led to the Quarian defeat. Officially, the Quarian were stripped off their Associate status because they intentionally or not created a Self Aware Synthetic Intelligence – one of the big taboos among the Citadel species. Unofficially, we're baffled why the Council didn't immediately move on to neutralize the potential Geth threat. With the information available, we can make two conclusions – one the Council knows something about the conflict that is classified to this day* and stayed their hand and two, they faced a political pressure not to engage into a galactic war against the Geth that would have thrown the economy in recess at best and ended the unprecedented age of prosperity that lasted for the past seven hundred years… _

_*AI is scouring all available sources for more information on the Geth-Quarian war and why the Council didn't intervene. So far all we have is idle speculation and not enough data to reach a reasonable conclusion._

_In summary, we can best describe the Council attitude towards the SA and Humanity as exploitative. While they do see us as useful, the Council wasted no time fostering conflict between us and the Batarian Hegemony by offering us colonization rights in an area that until our arrival on the galactic stage was deemed of "Batarian interest". The AI further concludes that the only reason the Batarians failed to properly develop and exploit it – which conveniently was the reason why it was given to us, was the sanctions the Council levelled against the Hegemony and used to cripple their economy. On the other hand, given the strategic constrains the SA has to operate, we have little choice but to stake our claims by colonizing our new frontier – which is vital for the long term growth and health of the SA. The price of that strategy are however obvious – with the Navy stretched thin, many of our frontier colonies are lightly defended, often lacking any form of Naval support until it is too late. Given their generally small size and large number, the marine forces stationed on the ground can more often than not merely keep said colonies from merely being destroyed and protect part of the civilian population and infrastructure instead of having the numbers and equipment to properly repulse pirate and slaver raids. _

_The conclusion of this analysis is that the Council is using us to further weaken the Hegemony and in the same time keep us in check to diminish the possibility that we would be in a position to disrupt an almost a millennium of prosperity Citadel Space has been enjoying. While the SA has seen an economic boon due to our Associate Status and it remains in our interest to keep close ties with the Council for geopolitical strategic reasons, the price we have to pay for it domestically might prove unsustainable – see attachment A 3 – Summary: Strategic internal threats. _

_It should be kept in mind that it was thanks to the Council and their careful handling of our entrance to the galactic economic stage we didn't suffer economic meltdown, one that could have been either started or made crushing when our currencies began trading on the Citadel exchanges. Our military, political and economic alnalysts all agree – the Council made sure to prop up our economy and ensure the SA as a whole prospered enough that we could prove credible threat to the Batarians and see a tangible benefit from being an associate species. At the same time, our strategic concerns and the extreme power of Citadel Space based multistelar Corporations did have a devastating effect on many SA businesses and are one of the major reasons why a large percentage of our population hasn't seen a real boon from our membership in the Citadel Alliance. This in turn is one of the reasons for the rise of many of the threats discussed in the domestic portion of this document – see attachment A 3 – Summary: Strategic internal threats for more details._

**_from Alliance Intelligence analysis of _**

**_the SA strategic situation_**


	14. Chapter 4 Parts 1&2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**=DC=**

**Part 1**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**SSV Normandy**

**Knossos system**

Four people stood at _Normandy's _bridge, and Shepard was sure that all of them thought about different things besides their obvious concerns. First, the Acting Captain was busy making sure nothing unexpected happened or at least didn't develop into a significant enough issue to kill them all. On top of an experimental and possibly viciously temperamental ship, Presley had to worry about Geth, filling up Anderson's shoes, aliens running all over his brand new, supposedly secret ship, a pair of Spectres as if everything else wasn't enough… The list went on and on.

Second was the Turian LT – the First Contact War or the Relay 314 accident as the aliens called it still stung, both sides. It was telling that the short campaign that included the bulk of Humanity's military space assets was a mere footnote to the Turians and the reason why the Hierarchy took so long to respond to General Arterius stunt – they had so many ships, so many fleets and task forces running all over the galaxy that initially, first contact with Humanity slipped through the cracks and by the time anyone with a sense figured out what was happening… Shepard glanced at the stoic Turian. He had to grand the LT that much, his people had handled being stuck on a SA ship better than some of the Humans. All things considered, while some of the crew were merely curious, others had issues keeping their hostility in check. In that regard, Kaidan was godsend – at least when he wasn't on a rest period or suffering all but crippling migraines due to his now outdated L2 biotic implants.

Shepard hadn't had enough hands on experience to accurately guess Lieutenant Fabius' thoughts unless the Turian went out of his way to make it obvious. Still, he had to commend the man's professionalism and the way he kept his people in check – if they had responded more forcefully to the couple of verbal spars initiated by _Normandy _crew out of line, Presley and Shepard would have had to deal with an international incident on top of everything else – not something anyone needed at that point.

Third, well Vasir was an enigma. At the best of times, John couldn't figure out what was the real Spectre, if he had seen it in the first place, and what was mere theatre. What he knew for a fact was that his new colleague and mentor had had centuries to hone her skills and if he had to guess, nowadays she could be anyone, anything she deemed necessary. That combined with her charisma one the few occasions she allowed it to show, made her extremely dangerous… then there were combat skills and biotics. When all was said and told, there was little doubt who was the most dangerous being on board and that wasn't the bored Krogan in the hangar.

Hell, Vasir didn't need weapons, biotics or the sheer physical presence Wrex had in order to cause or solve problems. A few words, the way she acted depending on the situation and she could have people either terrified by her very presence or eating of her hand and asking for more.

As he stood there, between the Turian Lieutenant and his fellow Spectre, Shepard began to wonder if he was up to the task of being Humanity's first Spectre. Too many things happened between Anderson and Nihlus dropping the bomb during the approach towards Eden Prime and now for John to really ponder his situation. It was just now, during a moment of calm before a storm they all knew was coming that he got a time to think without distractions – like observing how the Spectres worked and trying to absorb as much as possible or dealing with all kinds of stuff he simply didn't have anyone to really delegate to.

So, and fourth – the First Human Spectre who doubts himself, he had to add in his mind. Was this when his luck finally ran out? Shepard knew that surviving Elysium much less earning his moniker – the Lion, was as much down to luck as skills and training. If there were a few less veterans among the smattering of civilians he all but conscripted to help him make a stand, if the pirates had fought smarter, called in an orbital strike or had a few more heavy units… He was lucky to survive that maelstrom and all it earned him was becoming the SA's poster boy, all but being ordered to finish up the N course up to 7… and once it was done, the brass didn't waste any time in throwing him at Torfan along with thousands other sorry bastards. Again, Shepard got lucky – he landed into a sector manned by pirates with only a smattering of Batarian External Forces types to give them a spine. He and his team got in, got the job done and got out more or less intact. Just thirty klicks west, another N7 led unit went into hell, backed by a whole company. Only three people got back and the N7 in question was now equally demonized and hailed as a hero – as the Butcher of Torfan. Hell, that Captain trained Shepard and if it wasn't for the high profile of the target and everything basically going to hell, he shouldn't have needed to shoot his weapon in anger during that operation…

And now, Eden Prime and its fallout…

Shepard felt a nudge and looked to the left where Vasir stood. She was looking at him and lightly shook her head. He gave her a barely perceived nod. This wasn't the time nor the place for his doubts. He had work to do and people's lives depended on him doing it right.

"We're approaching Knossos. ETA, ten, nine..." Joker's distinct voice came over the comm.

Shepard didn't need to imagine the Mass Effect field surrounding the _Normandy _as her engines propelled her past the bounds postulated by Einstein. As an engineer, and someone who did find the time, if barely, for a university degree in physics, he knew first hand how odd and misunderstood eezo and the effect it produced were. Oh, people could use them for all kinds of things, the stuff worked like a charm, yet ever since the first Asari physicist took a look at it, Element Zero and what the galaxy came to know as the Mass Effect were the stuff that gave scientists nightmares. Simply put, they shouldn't really work as they did. You could explain how things worked to a layman, said layman could understand said explanation… said explanation could even be more or less right from engineering standpoint. From theoretical one – there were hundreds of theories built around explaining how the damn stuff worked… It should have invalidated conventional physics, meant it didn't work, something everyone had proof wasn't the case on day to day basics… Whoever actually figured out how to explain eezo's effect and its weird relation with dark energy through a unified working theory would make a killing and immortalize themselves, not to mention reshape the galaxy. It was the holly grail of physicists all over the galaxy and an idea that Shepard toyed with from time to time, before the real life intervened.

Shepard closed his eyes briefly as Joker counted to zero. When he got really nervous his mind often went after such nagging facts – a source to find comfort or something, at least his therapist from after Elysium said so.

"And we're in at the edge of the system." Joker grumbled. "Short range sensors… we're clear. Long range… damn… we've got energy signatures in orbit of Therum as of four light hours ago. I can't make it better from here without getting active. CIC – can you refine the data?"

"We're on it, Flight Lieutenant." Presley answered. "I need answers, people. Once it became clear Therum went off the grid and given our suspicions, the Admiralty ordered all incoming traffic to Knossos to halt. Unless someone disobeyed orders, there shouldn't have been that many ships in orbit a few hours ago – much less with strong enough signatures to pick them from all the way here. I need information."

"Sir, we'll need at least ten minutes to gather more data and properly analyse it, but eyeballing it and preliminary scans both indicate possible Geth signatures." The chief sensor operator responded. "I'm seeing what suspiciously looks like what we got from Eden Prime but from this distance and on such a paltry sample..."

"Go for it, Lieutenant." Presley ordered. "Flight Lieutenant," he addressed Joker, "bring us in closer – nice, slow and quiet. If I'm to make an educated guess, those smaller signatures are frigates with the larger one being a cruiser leader. We won't be engaging them directly or at all..." The Acting Captain trailed off and turned to look at the Spectres. "We might be able to cripple the cruiser, perhaps take it out if we manage to sneak close enough and unleash a full alpha strike undetected. However, that looks like a whole frigate pack with it and we don't know what else they have in system. Alone we won't survive a prolonged engagement nor do they need all those frigates to chase us off the planet in which case any force we insert and gets detected, dies." He explained.

"Unless we absolutely have to, we won't engage at such unfavourable odds. Leave a comm buy for our reinforcements – we know where they'll pause in dark space to await Intel."

Despite what popular media claimed, until you had one of the extremely expensive and rare QEC installed on your ship – something currently nothing less than a fleet flagship got, you couldn't call anyone while moving in FTL – the side effects of the ME bubble surrounding the ship prevented it. Strictly speaking, said bubble should be doing much more than it apparently did, much less as well but thinking deeply about it and trying to figure it out had driven all too many physicists up the wall over the millennia. That certainly wasn't a topic to amuse yourself with in the given situation.

'Damn nerves,' Shepard thought and went through a couple of mental exercises to focus his thoughts.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 2**

**=DC=**

**24.04.2183GS**

**SSV Normandy**

**Knossos system**

People often liked to claim that there was no stealth in space and on the face of it, they were right. An active ship radiated tremendous amount of energy – heat, light and radiation from the engines and life support, not to mention the sensors – especially the radar and lidar… In practice however, space was big. Incomprehensibly so.

For most intents and purposes, if you were smart and had the right tech you could hide in plain sight within a heavily developed system – merely one more ship among hundreds or thousands. The odds were that in a such a place you would be noticed, however you could deceive most if not all distant watching eyes as to who you were and your purpose…

In a system like Knossos for example, one where the only populated planet had less than forty thousand souls on the surface? Space was big and no one could really afford the resources to properly watch it within such a system, much less place enough assets in place to make such a thing worth it in the first place. The Geth, with the few ships they had in place? No matter how advanced those craft were, they operated under the same principles and constrains as everyone else. All they had really going for them was the fact that they didn't need life support and thus had a better heat budget – something that would matter in a battle but not so much in the current situation.

Still, when the _Normandy _exited FTL a light second and a half away from Therum – a bit more distant than Luna was from Earth, the only way to detect them was if the Geth had the right sensors looking their way. By the time the light-show of their short journey there reached the enemy, the reinforcements would have already dropped on their heads. That was one of the constrains imposed of not having FTL sensors – the only real way to detect an incoming enemy at FTL speeds was to have an observer platform see it before it arrives and said platform having access to FTL communication and giving you a head's up. Otherwise, long before even lidar could give you a warning, the enemy would have dropped on your head… unless you happened to look at the right place and time anyway.

When the _Normandy _dropped from FTL, her engines were already shut, their arrival in part masked by the drop of the ME bubble that allowed to bypass Einstein's shackles in the first place. From that point, the frigate merely continued to drift and gather data using primary passive sensors and low powered lidar bursts that would hopefully not trigger any Geth sensors. The optical ones – advanced cameras and such would really come in handy once they were in position to see anything useful on the planet or already detected a Geth ship and knew where to look at.

It did help that they didn't approach on a straight line and instead moved to come from the other side of the planet compared to the cruiser they saw when entering the system. The first thing the _Normandy _detected were three omniosly silent mining operations on the surface – on the opposite hemisphere from the capital and most existing developments planet-side. Thermals and other passive sensors found no movement, nor trace of life down there, however with the increased heat and volcanic smoke chocked skies predominant on Therum, said sensors were less than reliable. There were too many heavy trace elements in the air and brightly glowing rivers of magma to be sure without punching drones relatively low under the smoke and even then laser comms – the stealthiest thing after the invention of the QEC wouldn't be useful requiring burst radio transmission with enough power to push through the natural interference surrounding most of the planet. That in turn would make it much more likely for the Geth to notice they had an uninvited guest and wasn't worth it at that point. Especially when there were three of their frigates covering that side of the planet and looking presumably for Dr T'soni or merely keeping guard out of sight from the main enemy force. If the Geth deployment hadn't changed in the past few hours, that made it one cruiser and four more frigates on the others side of the planet with unknown number lurking deeper in the system – probably there were no more ships waiting in ambush but no one could be sure without actually checking.

"We're moving on a trajectory that would put us relatively below the enemy cruiser when we swing around Therum." Presley said. We'll gather as much information as we can and keep quiet until the reinforcements arrive so we could feed them coordinates to jump the Geth. Even if that cruiser is just sitting there with its proverbial pants down – no active kinetic barriers and we manage to kill it, any forces we deploy will be sitting duck for those frigates and there's no way we distract them all much less take on them and do anything but die." The Acting Captain stared the Spectres down. "While we managed to insert a strike team on Eden Prime, given the terrain, we were able not only to use it to mask our approach but we knew where the target was. From what we're seeing down there, without transport you would be sitting ducks constrained by predictable routes through the lava rivers and we don't know where to insert you in the first place."

"Not to mention that given the heat down there, an insertion would be even worse for the heat sinks than on a regular Garden World." Shepard concurred. "On the bright side, the Geth hadn't plastered those mines we saw from orbit. On the other hand..." John trailed off.

"Why are they still here?" Vasir asked. "How many platforms did they have on board those ships? My guess is that they want Dr T'soni alive otherwise we would have arrived to find only rubble and corpses. Unless they begin pulling back before our backup is in place, we'll merely gather information. However, if we see them try to leave, I want that cruiser crippled and we'll do our best to stall the frigates. At worst, we'll deny them Dr. T'soni."

"Besides, with those frigates we're watching, it's unlikely we'll be able to both get you in and pull back to safe orbit without being noticed on the way down or up. At Eden Prime the enemy was concentrated in one fleet covering that super-dreadnought from orbit. We managed to insert from the other side of the planet and use those large valleys to keep out of sight from orbital surveillance as much as possible. Here? While the smoke cover would help, by the time we get you in position the heat-sinks would be full enough we won't be able to distract the enemy for long before we have to run to cool."

That in a nutshell summarized life in the military – hurry up and wait, even with the enemy right here, unaware of your presence.


	15. Chapter 4 Parts 3&4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**=DC=**

**Part 3**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**SSV Normandy**

**Knossos system**

A tense hour passed while _the Normandy_ made four orbits around Therum. She put all her passive sensors to good use and gave her crew tons of data to work with. Despite the nasty mixture of clouds and ash that covered much of Therum on the best of days, is soon became clear that there were active power signatures and what looked on thermals like ongoing firefights on at least three locations on the surface. The largest centre of activity was what passed for capital city with close second being a large refinery complex along with an archaeological site in its vicinity and finally, the entrance of the second largest mine on the planet.

"We do have alive people down there fighting, we even picked up pieces of a distress signal on our closest pass to the capital." The sensor officer reported. "Unfortunately, we have no indication as to the location of the VIP, though it is at least obvious she is still alive and free – otherwise there would be no more need for the Geth presence."

"They might be pursuing a secondary objective if the primary failed." Presley pointed out after a few moments of thought. "The transports meant to pick up metal shipments never arrived – there must be a fortune down there waiting to be loaded. I'm sure the Geth could use the heavy metals – a lot of them have applications in shipbuilding."

"A target of opportunity to coincide with retrieving Dr. T'soni. Plausible." Vasir agreed. "They would need to land their frigates to pull it off. I'm not seeing any cargo ships they either brought with themselves or captured."

"We're approaching the broadcast window." The comm officer reminded them. "What should we add to the package besides the gathered Intel?" She asked.

"Add our orbital coordinates for the beacon to stream us the reinforcements attack plans. We'll receive them on the next pass and then decide what to do. You've been working on a plan to cripple that cruiser as an opening shot, Acting Captain Presley?" Vasir inquired.

"Shift orbit to intercept the target, we should be able to do it more or less stealthy, then release a spread of torpedoes and have them drift until point blank range before going active. Then we'll make a strafing run, targeting the cruisers engines with everything we have. The reinforcements should drop right behind us, once we get the Geth's attention and hopefully mop them up before they know what hit them."

"I like it, nice and simple." Vasir praised. "Shepard, options once we've secured the orbitals?"

"I should drop in the Mako at the capital with as many people we can safely cram inside, link up with survivors and figure out where the VIP is supposed to be. That has the bonus of minimizing the odds of friendly fire because someone on edge shot first and asked question never when they see more aliens landing on their heads. You and the Turians remain as a reserve on the _Normandy_ and drop when we have positive confirmation of Dr T'soni's location. Either that, or we drop on two of the three active locations ground-side and have the reinforcements sent marines to the third and begin scanning for survivors and additional Geth troops."

"We're doing best. I would prefer to avoid friendly-fire accidents. We," Vasir nodded to the Turian LT, "will go to that refinery complex and secure the dig there while you take care of the capital. Comms, add a suggestion to the reinforcing ships that once the orbitals are secured they should help us retake the colony with critical objectives being the archaeological sites and the capital in that order."

* * *

**=DC=**

**CIC **

**CWS Agile**

**outer system**

**Knossos**

The CDF task force dropped from FTL on the edge of the system not too far from where the _Normandy_ arrived an hour ago, spoiling for a fight. They had both short and long range sensors up, not particularly concerned that any forces deep within the system would notice their arrival in time. Instead, Senior Fleet Captain Quintus, the Turian in charge of the battle group, was afraid of was an ambush – a depressing possibility if the enemy was numerous enough to have had picket ships sniffing around the Knossos' outer system. It was what he would have done if he had the numbers or time and enough reckon satellites to deploy. A smart commander would have left the enemy scout, _the Normandy _in this case, slip in without confronting it, before setting up in wait for the reinforcements to show up.

"No enemy contacts close by." _Agile's_ sensor operator reported. "We're getting time-lagged signatures from Therum's orbit. No apparent change since _Normandy's _arrival. They either have no idea we're here or we've flown into a nasty trap." Senior Lieutenant Kerelis added with her usual cheer. "We also detected _Normandy's _beacon. Thirty three K from us." She pressed a few buttons and a small dot appeared on the tactical display to the left of the battle group.

"Sending access codes… handshake in progress… We're good, downloading data packages in secure system. We've got a message for you, sir, complete with Spectre codes." The comm operator announced. "It's clean." He added after scanning it for unpleasant surprises before sending it to the Captain.

Surprisingly enough, the message itself was worded in a polite and suggestive manner – not the orders he expected from a bunch of Spectres. The rough plan they had wasn't bad and he suspected that his Human counterpart on the _Normandy _had a lot to do with it, still it did the Spectres in question credit that they listened. There were horror stories circulating within the CDF about Spectres commandeering naval assets and then making asses of themselves because they had no real idea how and why the navy did anything. They were often worse than the army types or so rumour had it. Until now, Quintus has been lucky enough not to get entangled with any spooks, much less the Council pet ones so he wouldn't know first hand.

By the time he was done with the message, his tactical and network security officers already had the _Normandy's _tactical data on display – number of known enemy ships, their orbits, speeds, location of active Geth ground forces and human survivors and the best thing – it really looked like that the enemy had no idea they were under observation. Apparently that new project could give the STG a run for their money in the quietly skulking around department. Quintus couldn't wait until the Hierarchy put those new frigates in mass production. The tactical and potentially strategic implications were staggering. Besides, at the very least they might just put them on a more even footing with the Salarians and their infamous STG in the intelligence gathering business.

"Comms, compile a package for the _Normandy. _In thirty minutes they're to cripple or destroy the Geth cruiser. We'll be jumping in in thirty one minutes. _Menae's Shadow _will stay at the edge of the system, random location and observe in case we fly into a trap. The rest of the frigates – pair up and jump a Geth equivalent, I'll be designating targets shortly. _The Agile_ will finish off the enemy cruiser then move in to intercept the closest Geth frigate. Once we've established orbital dominance, we will launch marine to help secure the VIP we're here for, reinforce any SA holdouts and neutralize any and all Geth ground forces. Targeting priorities are..."

* * *

**=DC=**

**CIC**

**SSV Normandy**

**high orbit of Therum**

Twenty seven minutes after they heard from their reinforcements, _the Normandy _emerged from Therum's dark side with the local star at her back. Their initial entry in orbit was such as to facilitate a similar manoeuvre if necessary. For a few brief seconds, the frigate was in a blind zone of the patrolling Geth warships, which were more concerned in scanning the surface than looking for enemies in space. That was either complacency, or more likely, thanks to Saren, the machines knew what were the odds of the SA dispatching a force that could challenge them here in the foreseeable future – which were admittedly low. If it wasn't for the stroke of luck that revealed the rogue Spectre's connection with Benezia T'soni, Therum going silent would have had a distinctly secondary priority compared to securing and locking down the borders. Or perhaps, what _the Normandy's _crew witnessed above Therum was a SOP for the Geth – they simply lacked enough data to be certain.

It mattered little in the end. The machine's complacency or single mindedness was going to cost them. For a brief moment manoeuvring thrusters lit up and the _Normandy _shifted her orbit to make an interception with the more or less stationary Geth cruiser above the capital possible. Eight disruptor torpedoes stealthily left their berth and proceeded to drift in a rough formation around their mother-ship as Joker prepared to guide her first attack run in anger.

Even as fast as she drifted, it took the _Normandy _minutes to reach effective engagement range – which in this case was close enough not to give the machines enough time to react. Those minutes felt like hours to the crew – every moment now a stray radar or lidar sweep, thermals or even a Geth platform looking through a window – if they had windows on their ships, could have discovered the _Normandy._ Time dragged at a snail's pace, while the frigate drifted past its normal engagement range, through point blank and they were almost close enough for Gardian to be able to slice through their armour when the Cruiser lit up its active sensors.

"Fire for effect." Presley ordered and even before his words could properly reach the cockpit and Joker, the pilot was already busy bringing the _Normandy _to full power – engines, shields, sensors.

A press of the button made the drifting torpedoes lit up their engines and seeker warheads. With the cruiser so close and its sensors just lit up – there was no way for them to miss it. The suicidal drones accelerated to an extent that would have turned any organic to paste and headed for the rear of their target. Within moments, the _Normandy _had locked in and Joker launched a second spread of torpedoes followed before opening with her spinal mass accelerator.

To give them credit, the Geth reacted faster than any organic could… for all the good it did them. The range was too short, acquisition and engagement time – shorter still. Nevertheless, the cruiser's Gardian lit up and managed to swap three, then four torpedoes from the first spread. However, the rest slammed into its rear, near the engine just as it came to life. With their mass increased beyond any reason by the warheads they carried and with unstable fields warping time and space in front of them, the torpedoes suddenly became too massive mass signatures for the cruiser's shield to stop. In fact, they simply either punched through or bypassed it entirely and homed at the siren song of ME emitters, targeting sensors or the heat signature of an antiproton engines…

Those weren't the small, used en masse weapons launched by fighters or bombers. In fact, the ordnance the _Normandy _carried was almost the third of the size of a standard fighter – which made for a much harder hitting weapon, faster, longer ranged and in theory able to survive more punishment. The Geth Gardian demonstrated that the later wasn't really true at least as far as their active defences were concerned. However, there was nothing wrong with the larger disruptor torpedoes that hit. One ripped through the starboard main sensor array, two more pulverized shield emitters before crashing deep into the cruiser, warping and shattering armour, decks, power lines and delicate equipment alike. The last torpedo managed to clip one of the engine pods and only automated safeties prevented chain reaction.

Again, the Geth showed reaction times and level headedness that an organics couldn't possibly match. The ship began to rotate moments after the torpedoes hit – a desperate attempt to shift the now crippled side from the line of fire. It was a commendable attempt that would have made a difference if the _Normandy _hadn't been able to sneak in as close as she did to act as an assassin. Mass accelerated slugs and five more torpedoes slammed into and _through _the cruiser's rear fully collapsing the shields on the rear half of the starboard, and perforating or cutting the power to systems on the other side of the warship… before a torpedo warped its way through a fuel tank and the rear third of the cruiser vanished in a blinding flash of light. The rest of the now dying warship jumped and began tumbling out of control. The brief pulse of the engines and the force added by the explosion ensured it broke orbit so Therum could catch it in its gravity field, which began dragging it down.

Yet, the remaining Geth on board appeared unshaken at the prospect of fiery death and the wreck lashed at the _Normandy _with her remaining Gardian lasers. Joker sent two disruptor torpedoes at what was left of the cruiser – as a distraction if nothing less and banked the ship away, towards the closest enemy frigates.

The four smaller Geth ships wasted no time in reacting – they all lit up their engines and went to acceleration that would have made organic crews black out, followed by turns that virtually guaranteed it.

"Thirty more seconds and we're making a short FTL jump. Everyone, hold on, for aggressive manoeuvring!" Joker's excited voice echoed throughout the _Normandy. _

Mass accelerator rounds, disruptor torpedoes and even long range laser shots lashed at the SA frigate. Her shields managed to turn aside the few slugs that struck her and at the current range, the only lasers that were any threat outside of blinding the odd sensor came from the dying cruiser that _the Normandy _was quickly leaving behind. Still, the Geth managed a few solid shots that melted armour and slagged various sensor clusters before the timer went to zero and the SA frigate jumped into FTL. The Geth warships, hot on her heels failed to notice in time the arrival of the Citadel forces. Two of the frigates still making their way around Therum found themselves targeted by a pair of their Turian counterparts, each, and before they could move into vectors that would allow them to flee into FTL, a flurry of lasers, Mass accelerator fire and disruptor torpedoes raked them both causing enough damage to prevent such an escape. The Turian ships didn't emerge unscratched either, even if far less firepower came their way – short range lasers and slugs slammed in their flank building heat and slagging exposed systems. However, due to the respective vectors of the combatants, the Geth were in no position to respond with torpedoes, something that gave the Citadel ships a distinct edge. Once the Turian ordnance hit, multiple torpedoes sheared the engines off one frigate and left it a drifting wreck and provided the coup de grace to the other by detonating engines, fuel reserves and sending the eezo core out of control in a lethal chain reaction.

_The Agile _and her single escort came out of FTL behind the four Geth frigates busy chasing the _Normandy. _Captain Quintus wasted no time ordering weapons free. The cruiser's firepower proved too much at such a short range and rapid fire shots from her spinal mounted mass accelerator blasted through her first target's shields in a short order. Even a Geth controlled frigate couldn't accelerate away and successfully evade given the unexpected attack vector and that proved lethal for yet another Geth warship. Meanwhile, _Agil_e's escort unleashed hell upon its own target and while the Turian frigate was unable to outright destroy its target, it managed to cripple it before it entered FTL only to drop out mere hundred thousand kilometres away – a fact announced by a bright explosion that heralded the wreck's location. The remaining two Geth warships within _Agile's _engagement envelope wasted no time and fled.

After it came from behind Therum, the last enemy frigate took at the battlefield, noticed the four lightly damaged Turian ships converging on her position and decided that discretion was the better part of valour and made herself scarce.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 4**

**=DC=**

**24.04.2183GS**

**SSV Normandy**

**Knossos system**

Three minutes – it took that long for the _Normandy _to decelerate, turn around, accelerate again and reach Therum once Presley decided they had moved far enough to be safe from immediate Geth retribution.

"We have lost sensor clusters five to seven. Moderate damage to eight. Our atmospheric manoeuvring surfaces on the port side are degraded twenty percent and we have minor to moderate thermal damage to the armour from section..." The Chief Petty Officer responsible for damage control rattled off from a list compiled during their flight away from Therum.

"When practical, launch repair drones to restore sensor coverage – that's your primary concern." Presley ordered. There wasn't much they could do about the armour, perhaps fix the manoeuvring surfaces if they were merely wielded down by the Geth lasers, otherwise they would need either a repair ship, dock or place to land safely. Not really a concern for the time being.

By the time the _Normandy_ got back, the battle was over. The Turian cruiser and two frigate moved in an elaborate evasive pattern, while there was no sight from the rest of the pack, no debris either, at lest not such that corresponded to Turian ships. There however was a lot of Geth wreckage drifting around, complete with what was left of their cruiser getting closer and closer to slamming into the atmosphere.

"Tactical, give me a projected point of impact if that wreck hits the surface intact. Comms, patch us through to our allies." Presley ordered. He looked away from the tactical plot to face the Spectres. "The orbitals are secure for the time being. Depending on how many enemy ships remain and their condition, they might attempt an asset denial strike."

"That is a concern. I hate being on the wrong end of an orbital bombardment. Let's go, boys, we have a maiden fair to pick up before the Geth decide to bring down the sky on us." Vasir paused and gave Presley a sharp nod. "Good work, Acting Captain." With those parting words, the two Spectres and Turian officer headed down to the hangar.

"I've got Senior Captain Quintus for you, sir."

"Put him on speaker. Senior Captain Quintus, Acting Captain Presley. Status on enemy task force?"

"Three frigates fled. I have three of mine deploying a sensor net three light seconds out that would hopefully give us a bit of warning in case of long range bombardment, then we'll do our best to cover our ground forces."

The bad news was that if you were crazy enough to target a planet, you could technically do it even out of system. In practical terms, for a frigate slug to survive entry in the atmosphere, much less hit a city sized target, you had to be very precise in your targeting, especially as far as the vector of impact with the atmosphere was concerned. If the Geth merely wanted to wreck facilities on the ground, their best bet would be long range saturation bombardment – enough shots would survive to hit the ground in the general vicinity of their target that way. However, to make a difference – which in this case meant taking out the VIP before she could be recovered, they would need to get close to the planet before firing a barrage – otherwise, ordnance flight speed would be too long to really matter.

"Understood. We'll deploy our ground forces and be on station to provide close air support." Presley informed his Turian colleague.

"I'll have Long-strideron station to support your efforts and our marines. The rest of us will keep the Geth off your back if they return. Senior Captain Quintus, out."

"Joker, get us to the capital, we're dropping the Commander's unit with the Mako there."

* * *

**=DC=**

**Nova Yekaterinburg**

**Therum**

There were only three reasons why Zaeed was still alive. He stood below the first – only one of two still more or less intact Gardian towers that prevented successful air strikes on his position. Fortunately, so far the Geth had declined to bomb the town's proper from orbit, which by itself was a small blessing.

Second, were his now almost completely gone colleagues – there were just enough competent EAE mercenaries, a smattering of SA marines who were lucky enough to be far away from the garrison and armed volunteers, some of whom were retired military. Most of them were dead now, even if they went down hard. At the start, Zaeed had almost a full platoon of people gathered to protect the tower. Now, after too many hours of fighting to count, there were two of them relatively intact, a wounded medic trying and failing to keep the critically wounded alive and a few more worse to wear people who could still hold a rifle and shoot.

The third saving grace was that apparently the Geth had a limited number of robots to deploy, a number that got attried taking out most of the towers and the administrative centre where EAE had its HQ. The last he heard from control was that they were under heavy assault and purging all the data as it was SOP… to deny it to competitors or pirates willing to sell it to the highest bidder.

That was two hours ago and since then all anyone could hear on the comms was an automated distress beacon and burst transmissions coming from the people protecting the last remaining tower. When the others finally got overran, the few survivors either made their way to the remaining Gardian emplacements, tried to go to ground or more disturbingly, made a stand trying to protect the shelters when Geth went for them.

What the bloody machines wanted with the civies, no one knew nor wanted to think about.

Hell, from what Zaeed saw and experienced, this whole assault didn't make any sense. If it was a mere smash and grab, why didn't the Geth take out the emplacements from orbit as they did the garrison? Why were they going after the administrative centre and at least two of the shelters so far?

Why did they have so few ground units and thus far failed to overrun them? Zaeed knew he was tough, however the damn robots were bloody dangerous and enough of them would have punched his number, EAE shaped meat-shields notwithstanding!

"Sarge, check this out!" Their sole remaining combat engineer, Karl, shouted from where he sat bleeding. For a moment, Zaeed felt frustration at the younger man, but that was before his tone fully registered. There was… hope in his voice? "That Geth cruiser in orbit? Someone just took it out!?"

"What?" Zaeed turned to look at the wounded man.

"You know, the sensors of those things?" Karl waved at the tower they huddled beneath. "They can see pretty well in orbit. Something just came of nowhere and nailed that cruiser and now all the Geth frigates are going after it like bats out of hell! Huh, we just got an IFF ping… It's one of ours… _SSV Normandy, _I haven't heard of it..."

"We've got incoming!"

"They'll try to overrun us before any reinforcements can get to us. Hold position!" Zaeed snapped.

When asked later what exactly happened, all Massani could remember was a blur of shooting, explosions, screams and flashlight-heads. Jessie overheated in his hands and shut down as he pumped burst after burst into a sprinting giant robot, Karl screaming something incoherently as he pushed himself up on his mangled legs and sent overload and attack programs at the advancing machines… drones roaring overhead only to meet the last remaining frag grenades thrown by the combat medic who had to abandon her patients and use her shotgun… A shadow roaring from the heavens and blinding lances of light evaporating whole clusters of Geth… heat and shock-waves slamming into his face and then he was on his back seeing only dancing white spots… Another different roar, a familiar one too and the comforting sound of friendly heavy weapons… Then the next thing he felt was a stimulant being shoved in a vein on his neck and when it kicked in and cleared up his head, there was a SA corpsman kneeling over him and waving an omni-tool over his head.

"This one will make it." The man shouted before pressing a button on the omni-tool and administering another dose of stimulant.

"Sergeant, report." A woman in a distinctive white and pink Phoenix armour gripped his arm and pulled him up in a sitting position. He saw her distinctive Gunnery Sergeant chevrons and almost forgotten instincts kicked in along with the second dose of drugs.

"Zaeed Massani, Sergeant, Alliance Marine Corps, retired." He rattled out.

"Report, Sergeant. What do you know about the Geth down here – objectives, troop dispositions?" Behind the woman, a Mako blocked the main approach to the tower with its turret swinging left and right searching for targets.


	16. Chapter 4 Parts 5&6

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**=DC=**

**Part 5**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**Archaeological dig site**

**Therum**

Five thousand odd Geth runtimes inhabiting a Colossus platform suddenly found themselves the highest authority in their theatre of operation. Their first clue that something went even more wrong was when tens of thousands Geth programs either died or had to emergency transmit themselves to the remaining ships in orbit, before the frigates fled destruction… after a stealth ship destroyed their cruiser. The sheer shock of the impossibility of the situation made the Geth freeze while trying to process the conflicting data and as a result their platform stumbled and only automated programs kept it from crashing on the sharp rocks it walked over.

An organic commander in their shoes wouldn't have been really surprised by something else going wrong. After all, the only thing that actually went right since the Geth arrival in orbit was the opening barrage that levelled the local SA military garrison and with that strike – supposedly eliminated the bulk of the resistance on the ground. After that, the operation should have been simple – land forces at the capital and all active archaeological sites, locate their target and capture her if practical and if not, reinforce the position until she was either subdued and ready for transport or dead. As a secondary objective – recover as much refined material as practical until the primary got accomplished in order to fuel their industrial development.

That was where the plan went horrendously wrong – or it would have if the Geth had the capacity to feel that way. First, the resistance on the ground turned out to be orders of magnitude greater than expected, which was a problem for two reasons. First, with the primary objective's location unknown, CAS from anything but light craft was out of the question in order not to accidentally terminate her.

Second – ever since the Geth aligned with the Old Machines separated from the Orthodox Consensus, they had to dedicate majority of their platforms on building up their industrial base – something that was still ongoing. The original development plan called for six more months before sufficient industrial assets could come online with six months after that until the Geth could have enough platforms and equipment to fully staff and equip their existing ships and crew all existing and in development facilities. The discovery of the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime thus presented both a grave complication and opportunity, with the Old Machine, Nazara, ultimately deciding that such an asset couldn't be left in the hands of the organics.

Simply put, the Geth lacked the assets to properly go after the majority of objectives they had to cover. Nevertheless, they did plan for overkill on the important ones – like Eden Prime, and combat data gathered there indicated that even if orbital support was restricted for most of this operation, they did have more than enough ground deployable assets to accomplish their primary objective with time to spare. Intelligence indicated that Therum wouldn't be a strategic priority for the SA and it would be at least twenty four to thirty more hours before Human ships in enough numbers to challenge the Geth deployment in system could arrive.

Both of those calculations turned out to be in error… and they still had three sites with confirmed Asari present, with no confirmation to the location of the primary objective at any of them. That in turn meant that the frigate assets in orbit were spread doing their best to help locate enemy movements on the ground, restrict, interdict and intercept them when located – which meant further division of already limited forces.

The Colossus platform left out an electronic whine of frustration, an act that further confused some of the programs inhabiting it. Yet, enough of them reached consensus and began issuing orders, while the rest remained confused and continued to argue. They had to locate and neutralize the primary objective in order to deny it to the organic enemies – a task easier said than done, because with the loss of the orbitals to hostile forces, the Geth planet side suddenly found themselves in isolated clusters unable to reliably communicate with each other. The programs within the Colossus issued a set of orders to all assets they could reach and soon thirty ground platforms and drones converged near the entrance of the mine where the heart of the dig site was located. With a live retrieval of the primary objective no longer a concern, the Geth had no more qualms in bringing heavy weapons to bear and soon unleashed them upon the few remaining defenders – who held so long only thanks to an Asari Commando bolstering their ranks. She was also the primary reason why the Geth were there in force – a possible indication that the primary objective was inside this very mine.

Missiles, grenades and plasma blasts rained into the entrance to meet a biotic barrier.

The barrier survived the initial onslaught. The ceiling – not so much. With the tunnel collapsing, the Geth ceased their assault and waited for a group of them who were busy repairing a nearby digging machine; soon, they would be able to make their own entrance now that the defenders were buried under tons of rock.

Active sensors sent a warning that made the Colossus raise its head and primary weapon upwards. A streak of light burned through the sky headed straight for them. Recognition and threat assessment algorithms examined it with machine speed and reached a depressing conclusion – that was an orbital strike and while low powered – the equivalent of a less than a hundred tons of explosive, it was coming too fast for the Colossus to evade it. The same was true for the other platforms as well, however the drones had a chance to make it on the other side of the tall hill where the entrance of the mine was located. The Geth knew it was unlikely to have any effect, they were already calculating the odds, when they opened fire at the descending kinetic impactor with everything they had. They managed to even hit it couple of times – though there was no time to evaluate the effect because a flash of light and heat rudely terminated their processes along with the platform holding them.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 6**

**=DC=**

**24.04.2183GS**

**SSV Normandy**

**Therum**

If you asked most people within the Systems Alliance, especially its military, John Shepard was a hero who knew no fear. Even now, years later, his face was plastered on recruitment posters all over Human space, often with a variant of an iconic image from the Blitz captured by a crazy enterprising reporter who not only helped in the defence after being more or less conscripted for the task, but used the down time between getting into cover for his weapon to cool or shields to recharge to take pictures with her omni-tool. It helped that the woman was a retired veteran from Shanxi, though that didn't make her any less crazier or less of a pain in Shepard's ass. She was the one to coin the moniker 'Lion of Elysium' and it was her pictures of him that all but confirmed it to the masses. John had been relieved when the insane woman finally decided to retire and stop spreading his legend either of a misplaced sense of mischief or genuine belief into him being more than he was.

The truth, one he couldn't really show as a leader of men, was quite different. Fear was his constant companion and as his N training empathised, it was one of the things that kept you alive. There were graveyards chock full with dead fearless soldiers and those they dragged down with themselves. The trick of being effective was to use your fear, overcome it but not let it hold you back.

That was easier said than done, however. John would forever be thankful for hardsuits and enclosed helmets – they helped nicely conceal the fact that he often got pale or even lightly shook before deployment. Curiously enough, once he was already underway and adrenaline kicked in for the first time, he was all right. Before that? He usually needed something to distract himself with, yet not to such an extent he overlooked something important.

One of John's preferred methods was to get as comfortable as possible on the driver's seat of a Mako when a deployment allowed it, calmly check if everything was working as it was supposed to do, and put some uplifting music through the speakers. It wasn't like doing so would make a frigate air-dropped IFV any more noticeable anyway. It helped that as an N7 operative, despite his rank he usually deployed with and managed small amount of people – couple squads of special forces or the marine contingent of a frigate, usually three squads at the most. If they were available and needed them, he could take command of more forces once hitting the ground but otherwise, he had a lot less to manage than his rank would otherwise imply. That said, he could only bump up to a full Commander and still expect to get into the fray from the start if it wasn't for his newly minted Spectre status. Even with the rules for special forces being a bit different than for the rest of the rank and file, once he got to be a Captain the only way he would get to fire his weapon in anger would be if something went wrong – like taking out someone his subordinates couldn't neutralize in time if he was anywhere near the sharp end anyway.

Until recently, John had a mixed feelings about that prospect, though now, with the political implications of his assignments they all went out of the airlock.

"Music, sir?" Williams asked after she finished inspecting the rest of the marines and strapped herself in the back of the Mako right across Alenko.

"The Commander has a distinct style." John could hear Alenko's smirk as he spoke.

"While we aren't making an orbital drop today, it fits." Shepard answered. "Besides, its good for morale me thinks." Good for my nerves too, he added in his mind.

"It certainly is!" Corporal Esif nodded vigorously in synch with the upbeat music.

"Everyone ready, Gunny?" Shepard asked and looked over his shoulder. Depressingly enough, they had just enough deployable SA troopers left on the _Normandy _to fill up the back of the Mako and as IFVs went, its passenger compartment was on the small side.

"Everyone's good, sir."

"That's what I want to hear. Corporal, you're in control of the weapon station."

"Tank you, sir!" Esif chirped gleefully.

Alenko, Williams, Corporal Esif, and Private First Class Sing – along with Shepard himself they made a single fire-team. It was a far cry from the three full squads, six fire-teams and a command section they deployed with on Eden Prime. At least this time around they had the proper tools on hand to handle Geth – everyone had disruptor and AP ammo, heavy weapons and overload programs on their omni-tools. Everyone had reinforced their shields as much as their armours could support too, either thanks to what the small Alliance depot on the Citadel could give them or the supplies they brought from the Spectre Armoury.

Shepard could only hope that their preparations would be enough. On the other hand, this time they didn't have to play light infantry, neither go in completely blind and it was nice to enjoy uncontested orbital control too. He knew that even as the _Normandy _sliced her way through the atmosphere, two Turian ships were on her flanks deploying shuttles and engaging Geth troop concentrations unlucky enough to be away from anything important and the machines lacked the benefit of AA emplacements that they for some reason had refused to take from orbit unlike any friendly survivors in the capital.

"We're two minutes away from the capital. Preparing to engage targets of opportunity with Gardian lasers." Joker announced. "Strike One, you're clear to deploy."

An alarm blared signalling that the hangar's ramp would open shortly and prompting any personnel in the compartment to either leave or put on a helmet, activate their magnetic boots and hold on. Shepard switched on the Mako's systems and synced them with his omni-tool and thus his helmet's HUD, which gave him close to 360 degree view as long as the cameras mounted on the IFV were operational. He saw the Turian boxy shuttle lift off and shoot out of the ship.

A few moments later, John synced up the Mako's systems with the _Normandy, _thus getting a view from her forward cameras. The capital was still far below them, though it was fast approaching and despite the ash and clouds, there was enough to be seen to make him wince. There were multiple burning buildings – with dark acrid smoke twisting in the air and pooling above the settlement. As they approached, he saw from up close what was left from the small SA base meant to defend the place and he was thankful that it had been build far enough from the capital to ensure that someone taking it out from orbit wouldn't flatten half the town.

That was why it was built there in the first place – his training confirmed.

While a pleasant surprise, the fact that there were friendlies still fighting down there along with intact heavy AA was confusing. Shepard could understand why the Geth might have been reluctant to employ orbital strikes in the capital's proper, especially if they wanted T'soni alive and didn't know where she was. The presence of said Gardian towers also explained why there was no enemy frigate hovering above the city and burning down any and all sources of resistance – unlike on ships, ground emplacements could have much larger power sources, better cooling and while due to atmosphere not much better range than a frigate's the steer power they could pump was a significant threat to the small ships. If the Geth had limited warships in theatre, it would be plausible they would want to conserve them and take out the AA from the ground. It was obvious they had succeeded in most cases – there were just two of the emplacements remaining so far. However, with that many frigates and a cruiser, the machines should have been able to deploy more than enough strength to deal with the garrison even without taking it from orbit and even have units left to go after the outlying dig sites, not just the capital. They were Geth – machines, so no need of life support and thus were able to stick as many platforms inside their ships as volume permitted.

Yet, they obviously hadn't. What the _Normandy _could see with passive sensors during the battle and now with every active one lit up as if Christmas came early, indicated a much more conservative ground deployment than expected. That had interesting implications…

"Alenko – a note, once we have a Geth platform to hack, we need to figure out why they didn't send more troops down there."

"Yes, sir."

"We'll reach deployment zone in twenty. Strike-two, prepare to jump." Joker announced.

"Hold on, this is going to get bumpy." Shepard warned and focused on the camera feeds.

The _Normandy _flew straight towards the closest remaining AA emplacement and soon Joker opened with the forward facing Gardians. There was enough ash and other nastier stuff in the air that the usually invisible lasers had to burn their way through on top of the atmosphere, something that made for an impressive light-show. Lances of coherent light speared from the descending frigate and tow, then explosively converted two, then three groups of Geth into slag pooling over glassed streets.

As expected, John saw that the best place to land was the primary approach towards the AA emplacement – it was wide enough to allow heavy transports to move spare parts up to it. He began a mental count down considering the _Normandy's _speed, angle of approach and how potent the Mako's thrusters were. He revved up the engine and when the mental counter reached zero released the clamps holding the IFV in place.

"Strike-two, deploying." Shepard announced and accelerated down the open ramp. The vehicle shook and he hit the thrusters the moment the front wheels hit open space. The Mako flew away from the _Normandy _and fell down just slow enough to avoid damage. Geth drones that survived Joker's attention opened up with missiles and rapid fire mass accelerators and Esif wasted no time trying to engage them. The shields and APS took care of the incoming ordnance just as the Mako hit the ground and the combined result was that if not for the heavy straps holding everyone in place, they would be bouncing all over the interior from the resulting shocks. Even then, the commotion was enough to rattle teeth and make people dizzy – something that John didn't allow to slow him down as he forced the IFV to turn around and point its better armoured front to the enemy drones. A missile detonated against the shields shaking everyone and finally Esif could return fire – as the roar of the HMG and the heartening thump of the cannon announced. Shepard wasted no time in driving back, thus opening the distance between them and the remaining drones – four, no three now after his gunner nailed one. Two more missiles streaked their way, however the APS managed to take them out – one at a safe distance and the second close enough for the shock-wave to buffer the vehicle. Esif then nailed another drone and turned her attention to the remaining two.

"Disembark, take out the drones and check for survivors. Corporal, you'll have the vehicle once the apparent threats are neutralized." Shepard ordered.

"Go!" Alenko shouted and hit the release button for the rear entrance. The restrains released the troopers with a quiet hiss and three of them piled out, careful to use the IFV as cover. Alenko sent an overload at one of the drones and the other two wasted no time in engaging it with AP and disruptor ammo respectively. Meanwhile, the Corporal did her best to shred the other, wildly evading machine. Within seconds it was over and as his subordinates carefully approached the AA emplacement, Shepard turned the Mako around to face down the street and made his way out, leaving Esif to take command of the IFV.

Shepard saw Alenko and Williams covering the buildings to the left and right, while the corpsman ran to perform triage. He shouldered his weapon and carefully moved to back them up while dividing his attention between the motion tracker and the shot up surroundings.

"We've got a live one here!" Sign declared. "He'll make it too, it looks like."

"Sing, get him in a talking state, Williams debrief him." Shepard ordered. "_Normandy, _Strike-two Actual, we've secured the AA and found survivors. We'll gather intelligence and get back to you. Status on allied deployments?"

"We've got Turian shuttles heading for the VIP's possible locations outside the capital and a ready reserve to deploy in your AO once you've linked up with the locals and made sure they won't get shot out of the sky. I'm coming in for another strafing run to pick up enemy stragglers and will be on station if you need support." Joker said.

"He's as good as he'll get, Gunny. I'm going to check on the rest." Sing left the survivor to Williams and sprinted to a makeshift barricade below the tower where a bunch of wounded laid in pools of blood along with the corpse of the medic who had been trying to keep them alive. "We'll need immediate Med-evac here!" The PFC shouted after taking one good look at the casualties. "Unless we get them to Chakwas now, they're goners!"

"_Normandy_, Strike-two Actual, can you safely hover above our position to pick up wounded in the Mako?" Shepard asked.

"Strike-two Actual, Joker, it should be safe enough."

"Alenko, use your biotics to get the wounded in the Mako, yesterday. We'll cover you. Sing, can the other survivor wait for later pickup?"

"He's stable enough." The corpsman hollered back.


	17. Chapter 4 Parts 7&8

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**=DC=**

**Part 7**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**Nova Yekaterinburg**

**Therum**

The _Normandy _approached like an avenging angel straight out of a movie, glorious, beautiful and gleefully smiting the wicked, Ashley thought. Whatever was in the air, was more than enough to make her lasers visible lances of light as they burst from her hull and struck at enemy concentrations through out the town… and on that note, the Sergeant was glad she had a fully sealed helmet keeping her from inhaling the shit in the air.

"Repeat that!" Williams snapped at the still recovering local – she missed his last due to the loud crack of Gardian lasers and the engine's roar as the _Normandy approached_ for a pickup.

"The Asari?" The scarred man glared at her with his one biological eye. The other one looked blind at first glance and with the impressive scar on that side of his face, it would be easy to fool people who didn't pay attention, yet it had no trouble tracking her too – so he had a working prosthetic in there. He hacked of a phlegm and spat it on the ground before looking around. "Fuck, where did my rebreather go?"

"The Asari?" Ashley impatiently tapped a foot on the ground. Even with the ship coming overhead, she felt awfully exposed out in the open. There were too few people offering cover too but that couldn't be helped. God, she was just grateful that there were survivors down here, still fighting! After what happened with 312th…

"There're eight of them. Five maidens, and three older ones – more experienced and deadly. You could see it in their eyes, though they were all very polite and quite nice when no one bothers them. I don't know what they're really doing here but even that meek little archaeologist moves like a bloody veteran..."

"That's all very nice and all, but do you know where they are?" Ashley demanded.

"At least one is in the town – last we heard she got to the other tower and was a major reason it was still standing before Geth jamming and their assault on HQ cut us off." The scarred man explained. His eyes were now fully focused and instead of looking at Ashley, they scanned the surroundings for threats. Whoever the old bastard was he was both obviously though and knew what he was doing – not like she would expect from the rent-a-cops many corps hired and then marketed as the Gods own gift to mankind.

"Commander," Ashley shouted to be heard under _Normandy's _roar. "New Intel – our VIP came with seven companions, by the sound of it, bodyguards. At least one of them was last heard of defending the other remaining AA tower." Williams paused. "It's the other one, not one of those the Geth overran, right?" She asked the more or less intact survivor.

"That's the one." The old man nodded.

"That's our next stop, then." Shepard nodded. He glanced at the Mako, then at the scarred man. "There's no space in the tank and you look like hell. Go get on the _Normandy _so the Doc can check on you."

"I won't argue with that. Fuck, I've got enough of the flash-heads to last me a lifetime." The man shook his head – a mistake that made him stumble. "God-damn it." He paused and looked around. "Where's Jessie?!"

"We already loaded the other survivors." Said Shepard, who had come close enough to be heard without screaming on the top of his lungs.

"Fuck them, where is my rifle?!" The man suddenly became frantic and began looking around.

"Your rifle? That's who Jessie is?" Ashley grimaced. This was just like her uncle Frank – he gave names to all his weapons and even slept with at least one of them under his pillow…

She looked at the Commander, who simply stared back for a moment. He rolled his eyes behind the helmet because of that man's antics… right?

"Ah, here you are!" Speaking of the devil, he had an old Lancer rifle in his hands – it looked like a genuine Mod I of all things and looked at it as if it was his first love or something…

Now, Ashley liked weapons, she liked them very much. Depending on where she was, having a pistol close at hand when you slept could be a good policy too. However, she did draw the line at giving them names, much less treating them as if they were your firstborn…

"Sir, let's get you on board so the Doc could check you..." When she addressed him again, Ashley spoke carefully as if she was handling a tickling time bomb...

* * *

**=DC=**

**Archaeological site**

**Therum**

During her two hundred and fifty odd years as a Huntress, Sarella had suffered many indignities. Crawling through a Goddess damned sewer in order to evacuate her principals during a slaver raid had been one of the lowest points she had to suffer, however even then she didn't have to worry of being buried alive. Now, the Geth of all things – the bogeymen from beyond the Veil that people loved to shoot bad action movies and write worse books about, decided that it would be a good day to bury her alive. It was only a combination of an instinctive reaction and centuries of training and experience that allowed her to collapse her barrier and twist it around herself to prevent tons of rock and dirt from crushing her.

Now, Sarella was beginning to think that had been a mistake – at least a big nice rock busting her head in could have been more or less painless, not to mention, fast. Instead, she now had to keep what used to be the ceiling from slowly crushing her while her air was running out. It was becoming harder and harder to breath and the strain she was under didn't help matters. Even worse, she was about to go to the embrace of the Goddess as a failure! Her Lady's daughter was deeper in the mine trying to find either a way out through the buried Prothean ruins or a nice defensible place to make a stand! She had to protect the kid but instead all she managed to do was ensure she would either suffocate or cook in this forsaken place…

Sarella's omni-tool cracked and buzzed – a very close call with Geth plasma saw to it becoming quite fried along with her arm earlier. Was someone trying to contact her? Sarella blinked in confusion. It was becoming harder to think…

More cracking and hissing came from the busted device followed by a faint, barely audible distinctly flanging voice. "...eat. This… ant… Va… Tur… nessss..."

Was she hallucinating? What would Turians do here of all places?!

"This… ...tor Li... ...oni! ... trapped ...and ...eed help!"

'Damn it, girl! The whole reason I sent you deep into the mine was to keep your location secret for as long as possible!' Sarella fumed silently.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 8**

**=DC=**

**24.04.2183GS**

**Nova Yekaterinburg**

**Therum**

Shepard's squad took a moment to get all relevant communication codes and frequencies from the ambulatory survivor – one Zaeed Massani before bundling him into the _Normandy _and leaving for their next destination. On the way there, both Shepard and the frigate began broadcasting, complete with the right codes, that help had arrived and that the Turians who would soon be touching down were friendly. With that task underway, the Turian Senior Captain unleashed most of his reserve and a frigate and a flock of shuttles began descending through the heavens.

The only resistance they met on the way to the second AA tower came in the form of uncoordinated Geth drones and in small numbers they weren't much of a threat to the Mako – the shields and APS were more than capable of handling their missiles and mass accelerators long enough for Corporal Esif to smear their debris all over the battered town. A major and good change compared to what they experienced on Eden Prime was the comparative lack of bodies on the streets – thankfully the mercenary they rescued was right and the bulk of the civies managed to get to the shelters before the Geth struck in force or at least so it appeared. On the down side, after the _Normandy's _second strafing run, most remaining Geth went to ground into any nearby building and digging them up without wiping the town off the map was going to be a steel plated bitch and a half.

"Did any of you notice that there were not enough Geth for op of this size?" John wondered aloud. True, there were a lot of drones, however what they faced here was a pittance compared to the swarms hunting or patrolling back on Eden Prime and the actual robots themselves…

"There were more Geth in the force that hit my patrol than we saw on approach." Ashley confirmed. "With that many ships on orbit… Those are robots, sir. They don't need life support, nor food or water. You can stack them in any available compartment and they would keep when you arrive at your target. We should be seeing at least a battalion worth of units down here. How many did the _Normandy _take out? About a company spread out through out the town?"

After consulting with the ship protectively flying above them, Shepard nodded. "Joker believes he took out a reinforced company with the Gardians. Once tactical has gone over the data we'll have better numbers. Add a platoon or two striking that refinery…" Shepard paused. "They might have had a battalion worth to throw at everything they had to hit on the ground and that cost them. Can't say for sure. Just keep your eyes open – we might have a lot of robots hiding in the town."

John took a sharp turn and accelerated over a larger path leading straight to their target. The AA tower was obviously still operational and it swung left and right seeking hostile aerial targets. The Mako's systems highlighted three friendly and one unknown IFF next to a burned down truck turned to its side and used as a makeshift cover. He cleared his throat and activated the loudspeakers built in the Mako.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Shepard from the _Normandy._ What is your status?"

One of the figures dared glance over the edge of his cover and a helmet popped beside what was left of a melted down wheel.

"This is PFC Russel, SA Marines! Damn, I'm glad to hear your voice, sir!" A very young and terribly relieved voice shouted back. "The tower is still active, however we need med-evac ASAP."

"Corpsman, you're on point. We'll cover you." Shepard revved up the Mako's engine and accelerated, before slamming the brakes and making it drift until it stopped with its back right behind the burned out truck.

Williams opened the rear ramp and got out first, followed by the corpsman with Alenko exiting last. "The Mako's yours, Corporal." Shepard announced and followed his people.

When he got outside, both Alenko and Williams had taken cover – Ashley crouched near the PFC John just spoke with and Kaidan used the Mako itself in order not to provide an even better target for a missile or grenades. Shepard heard the distinct whine of accelerating drone before the Mako's weapon station swung to the left and Esif blasted the incoming threat to pieces with one well aimed round.

Only then, John could take a better look at the tower and the carnage below it. Ten corpses were laid beside just behind the AA emplacement, with a small group of wounded using the tower itself as a cover. None of them looked fit to walk, not even crawl really and a medic laid beside them with most of his skull missing. That only left the three people with active IFFs – the PFC, who had his left arm dangling uselessly by his side, another private, this time in the local security armour, just like the mercenary they evacuated from the other tower, and a tall and muscular Asari in dark light armour meant for mobility and only to really protect from fragments. The woman had her attention divided between Shepard and his people and an odd looking shotgun she was busy fixing.

"You don't happen to be Dr T'soni, do you?" John asked.

"Who wants to know?" The woman raised up her head and a ripple of biotic power travelled up and down her form.

"Commander, Shepard, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. The Council sent me along with another Spectre to retrieve Dr T'soni and bring her back in one piece."

"What?!" PFC Russel exclaimed. "What about us and Therum?!"

"They also sent a CDF task force with us and we have Turian marines hitting Geth concentrations outside the capital as we speak." Shepard carefully didn't voice his doubts of them sending said force this promptly if Dr T'soni wasn't on the surface.

"Typical, if it wasn't for the Asari, no one would have cared about us..." The other Private muttered darkly.

"If it wasn't for her, we all would be dead!" Russel snapped at the merk.

"If it wasn't for them, the Geth might not have been here in the first place!" The EAE trooper barked back. "Do I look like a fool to you? If there wasn't something the Geth wanted down here intact, they would have nuked us from orbit along with your precious garrison and now a pair of Spectre and Turians come here for one of those Asari?! Pull the other one, it has a bell on it!"

"No one here is interested in your sexual escapades, Private. We'll be evacuating you on board the _Normandy _for medical treatment. As for you, Ma'am," John turned his attention back to the Asari, "We need to find Dr T'soni if she is still in one piece. Do you know where she is?"

"I'm not sure – she had to travel between at least three different dig sites to oversee the work there or to argue with the local mining companies who aren't pleased that two of their mines got practically shut down when they uncovered Prothean ruins. The last I heard, she was at the dig near the refinery and once she was done there she meant to visit one of the other sites."

"Vasir, Shepard. I've made contact with one of our VIP's bodyguards. She was at your target some time before the attack, intending to visit one of the other sites later." With the _Normandy _above them and a multiple friendly ships in orbit, it was easy to have real time more or less secure communication despite what passed as weather and all the poisonous ash on this hell-hole.

"...ard..." Crackling voice came from John's omni-tool. "...vy resistance." The distinct sound of warping and tearing metal followed and it was soon joining by an electronic screech and the retort of a shotgun. "Shepard, we've got a Geth platoon with armour support on the ground here. We'll deal with them and secure the site before searching for the VIP. Go secure the other possible locations along with the Turians. Be advised, we encountered extremely mobile snipers with personal cloaks – the Goddess be-damned things hop all over the place and have no issues clinging to walls, ceilings, pipes – you name it, they can use it."

"Roger that, watch out for fucking invisible snipers."

"That is not something we see every day." The Asari interjected. "I'm coming with you. It's my job to keep Liara safe."

"Then what were you doing here?" Williams asked.

"I was to arrange a supply delivery."

"You haven't introduced yourself, Ma'am."

"Matron Erin Lu'min, at your service, Spectre."

"Did Matriarch Benezia T'soni assign you to this job?" Shepard asked. With her potentially compromised, who knew about Dr T'soni's security detail? On the other hand the fact that the Geth apparently hadn't gotten their hands on the VIP pointed at them not being compromised.

"Her father, actually." The Asari said. "Why did my answer made you relax a bit, Commander?"

Shepard looked around. "Not the time and place." Even if Lu'min was telling the truth. He activated his omni-tool and called up a map of Therum before zooming it in until the capital could be clearly seen. "Where are the sites Dr T'soni intended to visit?"

The Asari took a few moments to assemble her shotgun and got up in one smooth motion that looked more like a water flowing than a person standing up. "One is to the east – the second closest mine to us, the other to the north west – about fifty kilometres away."

John scrolled the map until he had it centred on the mine. A call to the _Normandy _later and he had eyes on both sites. One had its entrance collapsed and distinct crater near it signifying an orbital strike. An annotation sent by the Turians soon followed – one of their frigates saw the Geth sealing the mine while some of their units were busy working on heavy equipment outside – equipment that while worse to wear could be seen in the live feed complete with pieces of Geth that were working on it. As John watched, a Turian shuttle landed in front of the mine and disgorged a squad of marines who swarmed the area.

"Strike-two Actual, _Normandy _Actual." Presley cut in. "We just got a word from Captain Quintus. His marines made contact with survivors in the mine you're looking at – our VIP is there issuing a distress call."

"Get in the Mako, we're moving out." Shepard ordered and sprinted towards the IFV.


	18. Chapter 4 Parts 9&10

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**=DC=**

**Part 9**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**Refinery complex**

**Therum**

The Turian assault shuttle flew close enough to the ground that a tiny misjudgement from the VI currently controlling its flight would see at best the weapons pods sharing off the rocky landscape below and at worst – the small craft and its occupants turning into ground meat. The only thing that allowed the dangerous speedy approach was the data _Normandy's _sweeps and the SA maps provided. Otherwise, a slower approach complete with active sensors that would have told everyone able to detect them, where and when they would arrive.

As far as Vasir and the Turian Lieutenant were concerned, the assault approach was worth it and soon they were proven right. Ten seconds before reaching line of sight of the Refinery, the pilot opened the side door, thus allowing smoke and ash to ravage the troop compartment.

"Final approach!" The pilot announced. "Hold on, weapons live!"

The shuttle ducked over a hill and flew over a lava river low enough that if one of the troopers was foolish enough, he could touch the flowing magma. Moments later it popped up over a bend in the river and weapons put on automatic mode locked on a pair of quadruple walker milling in front of the Refinery. Missiles streaked from their pods followed by cannon bursts. Immediately it became clear that the Geth failed to detect the shuttle during its final approach. The machines were just beginning to turn when four missiles hit each in the side. Their shields popped up but not before deflecting the explosions that obscured them from view.

There was nothing but armour to meet the AP shells that the assault shuttle sent at the Geth platform farthest from the Refinery and the heavy slugs bit off large chunks of the walker. They hit something important too because while the assault transport flew behind the second one, the front legs of the damaged machine gave out and its long neck met the gravel, hard.

Vasir was barely aware of that turn of events thanks to her link with the shuttle's VI. Just as the transport flew behind the second walker, she jumped out, already engulfed by a Biotic barrier. A reflexive action was all it took to propel herself like a KEW and slam in the back of the remaining Geth vehicle. The Spectre hit with enough energy that the platform's legs bowed under the impact and the armour on its back cracked. She wasted no time and formed a field of warped space around her left fist while unholstering her shotgun. She slammed the warp into the already weakened armour and without thinking reduced her mass while jumping off. Tela saw the cracked carapace twist and break under the effect of the unstable Biotic field and while in mid-air aimed her shotgun and unleashed a preloaded carnage round. The recoil helped her gain even more distance from the walker, which was a good thing – her shot not only connected but penetrated deep within the machine before detonating in a corona of electrostatic fluid and arching electricity. The Geth unit let out an electronic screech and crumbled on the ground like a statue that just lost its foundation.

Vasir landed lightly on the gravel and took sprinted to make herself a harder target for any unseen enemies. Only then she took a moment to seek other targets. The second walker was obviously crippled – the shuttle broke whatever controlled its front legs, however it wasn't out of the fight yet. Tela saw it fold its rear legs and shake its long agile neck to shove its torso in a more or less stable position thus becoming a stationary turret. She wasted no time and charged at the machine before it could take proper aim at her. It immediately became obvious that those walkers were of a poor design – the Spectre couldn't see any other weapons besides those mounted on its large flashlight-like head. There was some kind of a plasma launcher hidden behind the light, or it _was _the light. She almost found that the hard way with an azure sphere of energy passing too close for comfort by her charge. She felt the heat and an instant of static electricity sparkling over the mass effect tunnel she propelled herself through before slamming into the machine's neck with enough force to shove the whole thing aside. Said neck whipped back and sent a burst of machine gun fire harmlessly into the air. Before the thing could slap back in place and target her, Vasir warped the armour at its base, unleashed couple of AP shots at it – which was just enough to crack the plating and shoved a grenade into the opening before charging again, so she would end up behind the platform and thus use it as a shield. The explosion that followed was enough to break its neck and it flopped bonelessly to the ground.

So far, the Geth's showing was decidedly underwhelming. Was this really what the whole galaxy feared over the last few centuries?!

* * *

**=DC=**

She should have known better than taunt fate.

"Goddess damn you!" Vasir seethed and vanished in a biotic charge before the fiendishly agile snipers could pop her barrier.

Those walkers, Tela didn't know what the Geth thought when they designed them, but unfortunately, there was little wrong with the rest of their ground units – from heavily shielded and numerous standard platforms, to those huge – about three metre command walkers to the swarms of drones and worst of all – those hopping, cloaked snipers! The first time she encountered them a couple of minutes ago, they caught her off guard – there was no sign of their presence. It was pure instinct that made her drop to the ground and even then three of four shots managed to nail her. The first two broke through her barrier and the third popped her shield and only her heavy armour saved her from dying then and there. Even then, Vasir felt a rib crack from the sheer shock. Adrenaline, medi-gel and stimulants got her moving fast – just in time to avoid more shots from those damned snipers.

They weren't alone, of course not! Moments after she walked into the ambush, more Geth, that had to be inert until that moment because nothing showed on her sensors, came pouring into the room. Vasir snarled and dumped the emergency power into her shield's capacitors bringing them back to full strength and charged at the closest towering walker. The impact made it stagger and she wasted no time in slamming a warp into its chest.

"Vasir, Shepard. I've made contact with one of our VIP's bodyguards. She was at your target some time before the attack, intending to visit one of the other sites later." Tela's comm came to life just as she sent a shock-wave behind her back to clear a group of regular Geth.

"I'm busy, Shepard!" Vasir snapped and aimed her shotgun at the chest of the command walker. She shot at it until the weapon overheated and by that time, there was a nice sparkling hole in its torso. The spectre shifted her weight and used a Biotic throw to slide between the legs of the walker before it fell to its knees and thus provided a bit of cover.

"Shepard, we've got a Geth platoon with armour support on the ground here. We'll deal with them and secure the site before searching for the VIP." Vasir summarized the situation. She saw something moving from the corner of her eye and used her Biotics to slam it into the ceiling. A Geth sniper broke under the impact and she slammed it into the ground too for good measure. "Go secure the other possible locations along with the Turians. Be advised, we encountered extremely mobile snipers with personal cloaks – the Goddess be-damned things hop all over the place and have no issues clinging to walls, ceilings, pipes – you name it, they stick to it." She rattled out after patching the Turians in the line. If they were lucky enough to have avoided the snipers until now, it was better to not walk into them unaware. With a bit of luck, the bulk of the Geth forces remaining at the Refinery were converging at her location and thus would allow the marines to hit them from the back.

Vasir charged away just in time to avoid becoming a fireball along with her improvised cover when the rest of the Geth blew up the neutralized Command Walker with missiles and grenades.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 10**

**=DC=**

**24.04.2183GS**

**Refinery complex**

**Therum**

Sub-munitions detonated against shields in a cascading wave of blinding explosions. Vasir pressed the trigger again and her shotgun spat a second cluster of ordnance that blasted through the weakened defence field and impacted the torso of a standard Geth platform and cracked it in a shower of pyrotechnics, leaking fluid and discharging energy. The robot hit some kind of a large machine and bounced leaving a dent in its plating before coming to a halt at the Spectre's feet. A Biotics surrounded heel slammed through the damaged mech and collapsed its torso in a shower of glowing energetic fluid.

Turian assault rifles barked their familiar melody behind her and the distinct sound of the Geth hopping snipers answered them before the roar of a machine gun swallowed all other noise. Tela vanished in a tunnel of Biotic energy not a moment too soon – a high velocity stream of liquid metal speared through the space where she just stood – a pointed reminder that those hoppers weren't the only snipers in the enemy's arsenal. Her HUD helpfully noted the direction of the shot and the estimated origin point. No doubt, the sniper was already displacing, however, Vasir removed one of her few remaining grenades from her harness and hurled it that way before spinning and diving under the first of a towering Command Walker. She shot it from point blank range – too close for the shield to be of any use, however it was less effective than she would have preferred. While the sub-munitions were undoubtedly effective against people, being able to find purchase in the weaker parts of the armour and cause shock damage anyway, against something as heavily armoured as the bright red walker, all they accomplished was stagger it.

The Spectre used that brief opening to gather more energy around herself and blast it back with a shock-wave, which she followed with a warp to the flashlight-head before displacing.

Behind her, the machine gun went silent – hopefully to cool down and not because a Geth nailed the gunner. Vasir found herself kneeling behind the large machine she bounced off that Geth earlier and used the moment of respite to switch her shotgun to solid AP ammunition but only after loading a Carnage round. She saw the Turian Sergeant advancing covered by brightly glowing ablative armour – the newest gimmick being tested by the Turian and Salarian tech specialists. A sniper round made the woman stagger, however the armour held through her charge and it blasted in a corona of shrapnel and an overload like blast only after she slid under cover. Behind her, two more marines engaged the snipers with controlled bursts meant to keep the pressure on the enemy and extent the time it took their weapons to overload. With the snipers pinned in place, Vasir took the opportunity to charge at the approaching Command Walker before it could engage her backup.

The Spectre sent a fabricated grenade at the walker – it was more flash than bang, meant to distract it, nailed it with the Carnage round and a warp. Despite the flashes of the resulting explosions, her helmet managed to filter out enough of the distraction to show her that the machine's shield broke. Vasir pumped three AP rounds in its right left and let go of her overheated shotgun. Before the weapon could hit the ground, Tela was sprinting at the staggered Geth with a heavy pistol in one hand and Biotic energy condensing around her fist. Four shots and two hits later, Vasir slid past the Command Walker and slammed a fist in the side of its knee joint. The resulting discharge of energy was enough to shatter the leg and made her arm up to the shoulder go numb. The Geth crashed on the ground and before it could do more than flail in an attempt to get up, the Spectre charged at it from her prone position. A corona of dark energy exploded from the impact sending the platform crashing into a nearby wall before Vasir ran up to it and finished it off with a few well placed shots from point blank range.

A sniper round caught her in the small of her back and sent her smashing face first into the wall just above the dent made by the Command Walker. Both her barrier and shields popped by the strike, yet the heavy armour held if barely. Tela wasn't sure if the flexible plating covering the nanotube weave was the only thing that cracked, however both her feet went numb. She wasn't sure if it was her centuries of training, experience or some ancient instinct that made her roll away while surrounding herself with Biotic barrier, what she knew was that doing it saved her life. A shimmering thin stream of metal passed in front of her unfocused eyes close enough to trigger her defences and pierce therm like a needle popping a balloon before slicing through the mostly intact chest of the neutralized Command Walker.

The Turian machine gun chose that moment to roar again and in desperation, Tela used her Biotics to tear off a chunk of the floor to use as cover. Multiple overloads threw long shadows all over the battlefield and a hopping sniper found itself skittering on the ceiling above Vasir. It didn't pause to take aim at her and instead it continued to run pursued by large bullets tearing chunks of metal and concrete right on its heels. Without really thinking, Tela used her improvised cover as a club and smashed the hopper into and _through _the ceiling. Then she was rolling away, hoping to avoid another sniper shot.

A shot that wasn't forthcoming.

"Clear. I think." A flanging voice sliced through the suddenly quiet battlefield.

"How many snipers did we get?" A distinctly female voice asked.

"Not enough. There's at least one cloaked bastard. Keep your eyes open." The Lieutenant ordered. "And someone check on Neeris. He got nailed."

"We lost the doc, again?!" A third voice exclaimed sounding utterly aggravated.

"He's still breathing."

A sniper shot echoed through the large room immediately followed by the retort of four more guns.

"Scratch one more sniper." The aggravated Turian growled. "We'll need another medic too."

"Spirits damn it!" The Lieutenant snapped.

Vasir dragged herself to the wall and into a siting position and let her armours medical subroutines do their magic while scanning everything for more cloaked Geth.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Archaeological site**

**Therum**

Shepard parked the Mako near the entrance of the mine where Dr T'soni was hiding. Immediately it became clear that retrieving her wasn't going to be as simple as going in and dragging her out an up to the _Normandy. _There was a Turian shuttle parked at the entrance with marines in defensive positions around it. Their commander – a Sergeant and a tech specialist were conferring at the mouth of the tunnel.

It wasn't had to guess what had them stumped – the entrance was collapsed.

"It can never be easy, can it?" Alenko grumbled. The LT looked around and nodded at what was left from a few large machines. "I'm guessing that this was what they used for excavation. We'll have to haul in diggers from one of the other mines unless there is another entrance large enough for people to use."

"I hope there is one." Shepard muttered. He only hoped that the Geth weren't aware that T'soni was in this location otherwise their remaining frigates might do their best to take out the area from orbit. Needless to say, such an asset denial strike would be fatal for everyone in the vicinity.

"_Agile _Actual, Strike-Two Actual. We've got the location of the VIP. We'll need to dig her out the hard way. Please provide orbital cover until we are able to extract her. We'll potentially need to fly in digging equipment and someone qualified to use it. Strike-Two Actual, over. _Normandy _Actual, Strike-Two actual. Please check with the survivors we picked up if they know how to operate digging machinery and if not, request they facilitate locating of local specialist and procurement of necessary equipment. Our VIP is buried in a mine with a collapsed entrance. On that note – check if they know where we can find plans for it and if there is an alternative entrance. Strike-Two Actual, over."


	19. Chapter 5 Parts 1&2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**=DC=**

**Part 1**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**Nova Yekaterinburg**

**Therum**

Despite everyone's best efforts, there were still at least a few Geth platforms and drones skulking around, keeping low profile and doing their best to ambush unwary soldier as well as too many of those cyberzombies Shepard and his crew first encountered on Eden Prime. A Turian marine company was slowly clearing what was left of the town house by house with liberal support from APCs and drones along with a frigate hovering on station above the settlement ready to provide close air support with her Gardian lasers. Sooner or later, the place would be secure – which was a cold comfort for all the dead people or those whom might yet run afoul of the enemy. The reason why Shepard was back there in the first place was the need for specialists, if they were still alive in the first place. With Therum being a mining colony on an active volcanic world, which naturally meant often earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, even at the best of times a well made mine might collapse making it necessary to dig out trapped people. That logically meant that there were specialists to deal with said issue in a safe manner – if they were still alive anyway. Unfortunately, none of those were among the survivors back on the Normandy being treated by Dr Chakwas. On the bright side, a few of them did have names complete with pictures on their omni-tools of a number of said specialists. That's why, Shepard along with Alenko and Williams had to go from shelter to shelter, checking up on the survivors. Meanwhile, the Turians were busy using drones and scanners to map the mine, its ventilation shafts, search for an alternative way in and transporting proper mining equipment from nearby more or less intact mines. With their primary target and other people confirmed trapped inside, they had to be careful on how to proceed, especially when it became clear that the mine/archaeological side was in the side of a dormant volcano. No one wanted to use explosives in the area any more than it was absolutely necessary, especially after the very close orbital strike – awakening said volcano could prove disastrous.

Currently, Vasir was there in charge along with the two Asari survivors from Dr T'soni's security detail. Among other things, they were investigating if it was at all feasible to try digging through the cave-in with their biotics.

"The next shelter should be under that building over there." Alenko said. He was patched into the Mako's cameras, while Ashley was in control of the weapons – so far she got to blast a Geth straggler and a pair of rocket drones that tried to ambush them near the first shelter they checked. On the bright side, the place wasn't compromised and did hold over two hundred survivors. On the other hand, none of them had the necessary expertise, though they offered a few more names to add to his list. They seemed not too pleased in being rescued either – in their mind, the Alliance had arrived to late, not to mention their reaction when he suggested that they either seal themselves back up for the time being until the town could be secured or go east to be protected by the Turians.

Shepard shelved those thoughts for later – he would be adding his impressions on the political situation here to his AAR for the Alliance.

"I see it. It sure looks like it. Look alive people, lets not get ambushed again." The Spectre said.

They met no Geth after piling out of the Mako and carefully breaching into the building. What they did find out was arguably worse – there were four Dragon Teeth in one corner of the warehouse, complete with people impaled on them and slowly turning into husks.

"Put them out of their misery." Shepard barely managed to keep his fury to himself at the sight.

The small squad wasted no time in shredding the transforming bodies with a hail of well aimed bursts. "Alenko, on point. Find the control panel and contact the survivors. We'll cover you."

Five minutes later, they were back on the Mako with a pair of specialists in tow.

**=DC=**

When they got back to the mine's entrance, they found the place transformed. A Turian platoon had dug in the area with their tech specialists having drones flying all over the area scanning and looking for a vent big enough to sneak a person in… or safe enough to make bigger without bringing the mountain down on everyone's heads. Vasir was at the cave in along with the other two Asari and they were arguing quietly.

"Unless we have a way to stop more rock and dirt from coming down, we might need to remove the whole top of the mountain. It's doable in theory, however we've been fighting for a day now and are exhausted. If there are a few powerful biotics with the Turians or humans, they might be able to keep a field up while you did in, at least for long enough for engineers to stabilize the ceiling before it comes down again, Spectre. Either that or we wait for some proper digging equipment and someone who knows how to use it without bringing the mountain down on the head of our Lady." The senior Asari from Dr T'soni's security detail said.

"Good news, we've got the specialists. The Turians should be bringing the necessary equipment to safely dig in shortly." Shepard explained once he reached the three Asari.

"Good." Vasir nodded. "The alternative we have isn't really feasible." She admitted. "Any issues?"

"There are still stragglers in the town, the marines are digging them out. All we should worry about is the Geth surviving warships. If we're lucky, they're running to safety. If not..."

"They might make a suicide run for asset denial. In that case its up to the fleet to keep us from being blown up." Vasir nodded. She looked down the ramp at a pair of humans arguing with a group of Turian technicians. "Those the specialists?"

It was Shepard's turn to nod.

"Let's get this done before the universe decides to make our lives more interesting."

**=DC=**

A few hours later, there was still no trace of the surviving Geth ships, the town was still being cleared up and most importantly, there were a few digging machines brought and after short check-up period and much longer consultation with maps and scan results, the specialists were busy carefully digging a new entrance into the mine. Everything was going more or less right and that was why Shepard wasn't really surprised that a complication arose. It manifested in the form of an Asari cruiser that dropped from FTL just out of range from the Turian ships and almost immediately became clear that said complications were political in nature among other things.

"Who the hell is Matriarch Aethyta and why is she here?" Shepard asked his fellow Spectre.

"She is supposedly T'soni's estranged father. As for why she is here, the Council forgot to use privacy fields while she was tearing strips off Tevos azure and she learned of our mission that way. At least they were properly chastised for that fuck up."

"Political complications then."

"By all accounts, Aethyta is a hard ass." Tevos nodded in approval. "Which is not necessary good for us." She frowned.

"What are the odds that she is compromised like Saren or Benezia?"

"Good question." The frown became a proper grimace.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 2**

**=DC=**

**24.04.2183GS**

**Therum**

A sleek Asari shuttle sliced through the ash choked atmosphere and gracefully came to a hover in front of the Turian makeshift positions. Its side door slid open and an armoured Asari jumped out surrounded by a corona of dark energy. She touched the ground lightly and took a short moment to look around before striding purposefully towards the dig site where the specialists were carefully and slowly creating a new entrance.

"Matriarch." Vasir wasted no time on pleasantries. Her tone was flat and less than impressed.

"Vasir." The other Asari answered in a matching tone. "My daughter?"

"Still stuck in the mine as you very well know. What are your intentions, Matriarch?"

"That should be obvious even to the likes of you, Spectre."

"We can't release her in your custody, Matriarch." Shepard interjected before the pissing match could go further. "We need to confirm if Dr T'soni has been compromised like her mother and Saren and if not, figure out why they want her."

"I'm best suited to make such a judgement." Aethyta glared at Shepard.

"If you aren't compromised as well." Vasir shot back.

"Really, little girl?"

"For all we know, you aren't here to protect your daughter but to deny us either a source of information, Matriarch." Shepard added.

Instead of answering, Aethyta took a moment to pointedly look around. At least half of the present Turians were looking their way and while they weren't aiming her way, they all had their weapons ready. "Are you really ready to open fire on a Matriarch, Spectre?" She looked straight at Shepard as she asked.

"If I have to." His right arm hovered next to the magnetic clamp holding his heavy pistol and the other needed just a gesture to activate his omni-tool and use an attack program.

"You do have quad, Shepard." The Matriarch chuckled. "I'm not leaving without my daughter. Brainwashed or not."

"You aren't getting close to Dr T'soni until we're sure you won't put a bullet in her head." Shepard pointed out.

"Then we're in impasse. I'm not letting you get your hands on her. I'm familiar with the lengths Spectres sometimes go to for the tiniest scrap of information, especially those like Vasir."

"What can I say? I'm very good at what I do." Tela said in the same flat tone she has been using since the Matriarch arrived.

"And I want my daughter undamaged, both in body and mind, Spectre."

"In that case you can get through screening at the same time she does. Then, if you're both clean, I would have no reason to keep you away from her." Shepard said. "Even if she is compromised, your presence might help break through her conditioning."

"That is of course if your own screening comes out clean." Vasir pointed out.

"For a century now, you simply can't open your mouth in my presence without making me want to splatter you all over the walls, can you, Vasir?" Aethyta shook her head. She slowly raised her left arm, activated her omni-tool and pressed a few buttons. "Tevos? Sleeping are we? Will you be so kind to call off your trained attack varren?"

"What did you do this time, Aethyta?" A groggy voice came from the omni-tool.

"Me? I've been entirely reasonable so far. In related news, your pet butchers so far remain in one piece. They want to keep my daughter from me, Tevos. You know me, I've never been one of the most patient people around."

"Goddess… Aethyta we both know you won't be harming my Spectres, if you do it, I'll personally give the Spectre Office a free hand in dealing with you. Now, what in the name of the Goddess are you talking about?" Came the waspish reply. "Better put us in a conference call. Vasir, report. What did Aethyta do this time?"

"She is being her charming self as usual, Councillor."

"Of course she is." The exasperation in Tevos' voice was obvious. "What's the status of her daughter?"

"Still suck in a mine under a dormant volcano. The only viable entrance is collapsed and we have specialists digging us a new way in. They should be done in another fifteen to twenty minutes then we can go in and retrieve the brat."

"I'm not seeing the problem then."

"After that we'll be bringing her to the Citadel for screening and interrogation." Shepard cut in. "Until the Matriarch is pass screening to ensure she isn't compromised we can't let her anywhere near the Doctor."

"That's a reasonable precaution, Spectre. You aren't brainwashed like Nezzy are you Aethyta? If that's not the case then it should be fine for you to follow the Spectres to the Citadel so you can be screened too."

Everyone heard the implied or else.

"You'll owe me one for this, Tevos." The Matriarch grimaced.

"As long as you aren't brainwashed in a murderous maniac… Well, to be any crazier than the average Krogan Battlemaster, then its all right. If that's all? Carry on Spectres and report once you have the VIP safely on the _Normandy." _With those parting words, Tevos cut the connection from her end.

"May I suggest that I go retrieve Dr T'soni while you ladies try not to kill each other?" Shepard suggested.

That earned him a pair of murderous glares.

"Or if you try to, then do it outside and try not to bring the mountain on our heads?"

* * *

**=DC=**

Surprisingly, the rest of the operation went off with minimum of snags. Shepard led the rescue party – Alenko, Williams and two Turian squads along with additional medics while Vasir and the other Asari remained outside under the watchful eyes of the Turian marines. It took them twenty minutes to locate the Doctor and while there was no resistance inside, retrieving T'soni turned out to be more complicated than anyone expected – she somehow had managed to lock herself in some kind of Protean security field while trying to find a way out through the uncovered ruins at the bottom of the mine.

"We can always use the mining laser to cut her out..." Williams suggested – on the level below there was indeed a large mining laser set up for escavation purposes.

"Let's not unless we absolutely have to – we're in a damn volcano and the Turians already dropped and orbital strike almost on top of it." Kaidan disagreed.

"I'm with the human. Let's not get ourselved drowned in lava." One of the Turians shadowing Shepard's team interjected.

"The laser is last resort. Get a tech specialist to secure it just in case while we go say hi to the good Doctor." Shepard looked around for a convenient way up. There was a ramp leading that way at the other way of the lower level.

"Dr T'soni?" He asked just to be sure once they piled up in front of a blue energy field that had a young Asari suspended in mid-air like a fly frozen in amber.

"Yes? Who are you? Are the Geth gone? What about everyone else? Can you get me out of here?" She shouted out a rapid fire series of questions.

"Shepard, SPECTRE. We're here to get you out and back to the Citadel. How do we do that?" He looked for a control panel.

"I think the controls are here with me..." T'soni trailed off.

"That can be problematic." Alenko muttered. He had his omni-tool active and was busy taking scans of the area. Once he saw the reading, the LT whistled. "This is powerful field – if the readings are correct, it can take a missile or two without collapsing.

"Can we simply overload it safely with sustained fire? Even if it goes down for a short while, that should be enough for you to pull her out with your biotics." Shepard suggested.

"It might work though it will take a lot of firepower."

"Its a good thing we have a whole squad here with us." Williams nodded at the Turians.

"You heard the LT. We're shooting up the mass effect field, away from the Doctor until it collapses. Once its down, he'll pull her out. Try your best not to accidentally shoot her."

"Yes, sir. Spread out and aim!" The NCO in charge of the marines ordered and soon eleven assault rifles hammered the ancient field. It took five minutes of sustained fire before the shield fizzled and the only reason they kept on shooting that long was Alenko who constantly kept scanning the field and noticed its power slowly depleting. The moment it failed, he lit up with blue light and pulled out T'soni away moments before secondary power kicked in and the shield came back online.


	20. Chapter 5 Parts 3&4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**=DC=**

**Part 3**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**Nova Yekaterinburg**

**Therum**

The shield reset a moment after T'soni flew out of her prison to land right on top of Alenko. The two of them fell down in a tangle of limbs with their target straddling the surprised lieutenant.

"Doctor, you might want to buy Kaidan over there a dinner, and a drink first before you have your wicked way with him." Shepard smirked. The Asari blushed and hurried to scramble away from the Lieutenant, which offered the Spectre an excellent opportunity to tag her with a sedative. A brief look of surprise flashed over T'soni's face before she collapsed in a heap on the ground.

"You caught her, you carry her, LT." Shepard said and called his fellow Spectre. "Vasir, Shepard. I've got the package, put her to sleep too and intent to keep her that way until we can get her to a secure location so we can figure out her status. Any complications on your end?"

"What did you do to my daughter, human?" The Matriarch demanded before Vasir could get a word out.

"Tranquilizers, ma'am. Its safer that way in case your daughter is compromised." Shepard explained with a deceptively calm voice. The last thing any of them needed was a confrontation with a Matriarch, not to mention the Asari frigate in orbit and its crew. The political situation was messed up enough already and it didn't need any further complications.

"Good thinking. We'll escort Dr T'soni to the Citadel, you can follow us with your frigate, Matriarch." Vasir growled. "I will not tolerate any further interference from your end, especially before we can confirm you aren't compromised as well."

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's escort our little princes to the shuttle." Shepard addressed the Turians. "Be ready for anit-biotic combat in case the Matriarch proves hostile." He added and checked his weapons to make sure they all had disruptor ammo on the ready.

"This could have gone better," Kaidan grumbled after picking up the Asari and slinging her over his shoulder with a grunt. She was obviously a bit heavier than she looked.

"Much worse too." Shepard shrugged. "We're within a damned volcano. I'm just glad we didn't have to cut our way in with that laser."

Soon enough they made their way through the new exit dug into the mine. The Turians fanned out in front of them moving in a loose staggered formation, weapons at the ready. They found the Asari where they left them, still arguing, complete with Councilor Tevos' image coming from Vasir's omni-tool, trying to calm them both down.

"Alenko, get the package on a shuttle and up to the Normandy ASAP. I'll run interference and try to defuse the situation." Shepard ordered and walked towards the arguing women. He had his weapons secured on their magnetic pads, however his omni-tool was on and a gesture away from launching attack programs.

The Matriarch froze for a moment when she saw Alenko carting T'soni away and Shepard could have sworn she was a heartbeat away from bioticaly charging or doing something equally unfortunate for everyone involved. He swallowed a lump in his throat, which wasn't there a moment ago, put on his best reassuring smile and began speaking. If the Asari wasn't compromised, there was still time to talk her down. Otherwise, things were about to get very ugly, which would be particularly unfortunately for him considering that he stood in the way of a biotic juggernaut.

"Ma'am, Ms T'soni is safe and sound, sedated for her own safety." He spoke in an as calm and soothing tone as he could. "We don't know if she had been compromised or not, this way she can't hurt herself."

"Shepard speaks sense, Aethyta!" Tevos chimed in. "We have no intention of hurting your daughter, no matter if she has been compromised like Benezia! We want to help her! She is either a victim or a target…"

"And a perfect lab rat to experiment on so you can figure out how Benezia had been mind-fucked."

"All we would attempt would be to reverse such a brainwashing if your daughter has been subjected to it!" Tevos shot back.

"Ladies, may I suggest that we take this conversation up to the Normandy, in case the Geth prove to be sore losers and decide to KKV this area? We don't have enough assets in orbit to properly protect against something like that." Shepard cut in. "My ship is state of the art stealth frigate, the best way to get Dr T'soni away from here and somewhere safe without risking being intercepted by hostile forces." He pointed out.

"I'm not leaving my daughter out of my sight!" The Matriarch glared at him.

"I do sympathize However, we have no way of knowing right now if you've been compromised as well! Hell, you can't necessary know it, Ma'am!" Shepard countered. "Otherwise I would have no issue with you accompanying us back to the Citadel. However, as things stand, I can't risk Dr T'sonis' safety by letting you get any closer to her than you're now."

The Matriarch glared murderously at Shepard and he was sure if the looks could kill, he would be a puddle of steaming goo on the ground, if he was lucky anyway. Aethyta visibly reigned herself in, closed her eyes and lowered her head taking deep breaths and exhaling.

"Shepard, you're heading straight for the Citadel, I'll follow." The Matriarch hissed. "Tevos, mark my words, if anything happens to Liara, there will be hell to pay." The Matriarch pointed at the Councilor's image, gave one long look to her daughter and turned around to march towards the sleek Asari shuttle, which brought her down.

"Well, that was a close one." Vasir grumbled, a hint of regret evident in her voice.

"None of that, young lady!" Tevos glared at the Asari Spectre. "The last thing we need right now is open combat between Spectres and a Matriarch! Shepard, well done. Bring T'soni back to the Citadel ASAP. I'll have security and medical personnel waiting for you."

"Enough of them to subdue the Matriarch without tearing the dock apart around us?" Shepard inquired.

"Yes." Tevos deadpanned. "Have you been able to secure any actionable intelligence from the Geth beyond raw combat data and experience?"

"Our engineers had orders to attempt retrieval of Geth data cores and know how provided by Ms Zorah. At this time I haven't been apprised on the amount of recovered data if any."

"I see. Carry on then." Tevos' image vanished.

"Not a fan of the Matriarch?" Shepard raised an eyebrow at Vasir.

"She's one ancient condescending bitch." The Asari ground out. "Let's get away from this hellhole."

Shepard looked up at the smoke chocked skies. It was more than an apt comparison. "Joker, be ready to break orbit as soon as we're back on board with precious cargo. We're going back to the Citadel." He called the Normandy.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 4**

**=DC=**

* * *

**24.04.2183GS**

**SSV Normandy**

**en route to the Citadel**

By the time the Normandy broke orbit and headed out of system, she had gained two CDF frigates as escorts in case the Geth ships that fled decided to be sneaky and laid down an ambush at the relay. On the way there, one of the Turian vessels would modify its IFF and pose as the stealth frigate and an escort, while the Human ship would sneak in, ready to ambush any ambushers. That was the plan anyway.

The short delay to gather the escorts had a second benefit – it allowed the CDF marines on the ground to sent up some of the recovered salvage – primary more or less intact Geth weapons and copies of recovered data so it could be dissected back on the Citadel. While Vasir arranged those developments from the CIC, Shepard went to check on their new guests.

There were a dozen wounded recovered from the town on Therum along with their sedated guest who now rested at the Med Bay under heavy guard. Shepard had to wait for Dr Chakwas to finish stitching up a wounded Corporal, because she was still elbow deep in his guts trying to put him back together when he boarded and still working on the poor sod after coming back from the CIC. That gave him a bit of time to check up on the rest of the wounded and call whatever data he could access about them. All of them were survivors from hard contact with the Geth and thus might have something useful to add during their debriefing. It soon became clear that with the obvious exception of the retired Sergeant, most of the others were a smattering of local boys and girls, with a couple of known mercenaries, though none of them had anything to distinguish them in their files.

Massani was a different kettle of fish. Shepard's Spectre credentials allowed him to quickly drag out that man's full file. He had fought in the First Contact War, discharged soon after its conclusion, when his contract expired and he declined multiple offers to renew it. Instead, Massani went out, gathered a few buddies and became one of the founders of the Blue Suns, which was curious. Shepard knew of Vido Santiago – the outfit's current leader, though he hadn't heard of Massani before. It soon became clear why, apparently there had been a conflict between those two when Santiago got the bright idea to hire Batarians. The gist of it was that Santiago pulled off a successful coup, which ended with Massani getting shot in the head and until now had been presumed dead. Unsurprisingly, the moment the Blue Suns began hiring up Batarians, their professionalism had taken a hit and they had become more and more brutal in executing their contracts. That was a double edged sword – it did offered them more job opportunities in Terminus Space, however that came with a relative drought of contracts in Citadel Space. Organizations like Eclipse wasted no time on capitalizing with a PR campaign painting the Suns as little better than the Blood Pack, which didn't help.

What Shepard could drag from Massani's file both during the War and later, as mercenary, was in fact impressive enough he was tempted to try recruit him, mirroring Vasir's strategy of getting people with the appropriate skills on board. However, he wasn't sure if Massani was still the same man after getting shot in the face, not to mention he was likely eager to get payback, which would be one complication they didn't need.

Still, the idea was something to think about. Perhaps he should speak with Vasir and see what she knew about the Blue Suns that hadn't made it into the official record. He was going to dig a bit himself as well, time permitting. However, first he had a doctor to see.

Chakwas appeared from the Med Bay wearing blood-splattered surgical coveralls and waved him to follow. "All closed up and secured, Shepard. I see you've brought me a new patient?" She asked.

"I need you to keep Ms T'soni sedated until we get to the Citadel, just to be on the safe side. A scan for any implants, especially in her brain, won't go amiss."

"You fear she might be brainwashed?" Chakwas inquired. She activated her omni-tool and used it to switch on the medical scanners attached to the bed Dr T'soni slept on.

"That's our best guess about both Saren and her mother. They had both either went insane and decided that working with the Geth is the best idea since discovering the Mass Effect or the two of them are compromised." Shepard confirmed. "If that's the case, who knows who else those tin-cans had managed to mind-fuck."

"That the technical term?" Chakwas snorted.

"It has been the one for longer than any of us has been alive, I recon."

"Preliminary scans show no unexpected foreign objects. The only implant our guest has is her biotic-amp. It could be compromised, I'll grant you that, though they're supposed to be build so that's impossible. I'll scan deeper and give her a full medical check-up while I'm at it. I'll call you if I find anything of note." Chakwas looked at him with a critical eye. "You look like you can use some rest."

"Its the bloody dreams – ever since the Beacon hit me, I've been having nightmares even when stuck into those coffins." Shepard nodded in the general direction of the sleeping pods.

"Well, your brain was pretty active while you were out after that thing blew up in your face." Chakwas looked carefully at him. "I'll give you another check-up once I'm done with the more critical cases. There should be more that enough time for that before we reach the Citadel. I'll want to give you a scan both before and after you go to sleep next time so come see me before that." The doctor ordered.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good marine." Chakwas smirked.

* * *

**=DC=**

An hour later, the Spectres gathered at the hangar, where Tali and many of the engineers without anything more important to do were busy going over captured equipment. There were a few gigabytes of recovered data as well, though much of it was fragmented and corrupted, needing significant amount of work to be of any use. Much of the rest would be useful only to the various military analysts, though there were some gems in there.

"Now we know why the Geth didn't deploy more units on the ground." Tali explained. She sat at a makeshift table made of crates stacked up together and was busy going over the captured data. "At least the Geth Cruiser lacked full compliment of mobile platforms to deploy, though here it doesn't say why. The same might be true for the frigates as well and if they really wanted to retrieve the Asari in one piece, that explains why they didn't bomb the place from orbit. Why they wanted her on the other hand..." The small Quarian shrugged.

That was an excellent question, however an answer would have to wait for Dr T'soni to be cleared and interrogated on the Citadel.

"We've got fragmented data about Geth deployment citing two different clusters in or near Human space," Tali continued and Shepard made note to send that information to command as a priority. "I'm seeing an 'Old Machine' being mentioned multiple times, perhaps it's those Reapers Benezia spoke in the data I captured. It's all fragmented and without context." Tali added sounding apologetic.

"Do we have any solid leads?" Vasir demanded.

"Nothing I've seen so far. Just mention of those clusters and allusions to deployment orders."

"Something to check if we have nothing solid after we hit the Citadel." Shepard said. "If the data isn't immediately useful for tracking down Saren and Benezia, let's get to the Geth equipment. Anything of note there?"

"Now we know how they keep their ridiculous fire-rate, sir." One of the younger engineers, Regina Mayers, raised a small silver cylinder. "They use disposable heat-sinks. The moment their weapons overhead, they pop out the heat-sink, replace it and continue to shoot. No need to wait for the weapon to cool-down."

"And if they run out of heat-sinks?" Vasir inquired. "The primary reason everyone uses the current type of weapons is because when combined with omni-tools they had zero logistics footprint – no need to ship spare parts or ammo."

"The Geth guns do have integrated ammo-blocs just like ours, as well as dedicated cooling system as well. However, from what we've seen, having both the heat-sink system and the regular cooling is the reason why they're so bulky and heavy – most people would have issue carrying them around and shooting. Those are more like squad support weapons than regular rifles. Their SAW equivalents are much larger and heavier as well."

"Then it's a no go until people figure out how to add both in a dedicated package, at least as far as mass deployment goes." Vasir concluded.


	21. Chapter 5 Parts 5&6

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**=DC=**

**Part 5**

**=DC=**

* * *

**26.04.2183GS**

**CDF Docks**

**The Citadel**

The trip back to the Citadel was thankfully uneventful. The short reprieve ended the moment they approached the gargantuan station and contacted Citadel Control.

"Normandy, Citadel Control, we've been expecting you. Patching you through to a CDF Controller. Have a nice day." A husky woman's voice sounded through-out the Frigate's cockpit, making Joker whistle.

"She's a new one." The pilot added.

"Normandy, Lieutenant Titus, CDF. Please proceed to CDF Dock 7B, a ground party is waiting for you there. Spectres Shepard and Vasir are to report to the Council for debriefing." The distinct flanging voice immediately identified the new controller as a Turian.

"Affirmative, CDF Control. Dock 7B. Normandy, out." Joker responded. "Well, it seems you're up to meet the brass, Commander."

"I'm thrilled, Joker. Carry on and try not to irritate our CDF colleagues too much." Shepard said and left the cockpit.

"Who won't like my sterling personality?!" Moreau exclaimed.

"It's an acquired taste, Lieutenant." Shepard shouted over his shoulder. He activated his omni-tool and called his Asari counterpart. "Vasir, Shepard. The council wants to meet us for debriefing after we disembark."

"I wonder what has their panties in a twist this time." Came the gruff reply. "I'm near the Med Bay, keeping an eye on our VIP, meet me there. I'll arrange a transport to the Tower if neither CDF, nor C-SEC have something waiting for us. However, we should make sure that the sleeping princess over here gets to a secure facility intact first."

"That might be for the best." Certainly, Shepard wasn't looking forward to explaining to a furious Matriarch what had happened to her daughter if something went wrong with Dr T'soni on their watch. From what he knew of Asari in general, and this particular Matriarch in general, she was perfectly capable of tearing his shiny new ship apart with her mind alone. Vasir too, not to mention their resident Krogan Battlemaster. That wasn't a reassuring thought.

Five minutes later, they had Dr T'soni loaded on a hovering medical bed, complete with a squad of fully kitted out marines, who took point and passed through the decontamination chamber first in order to check the credentials of the waiting CDF party. That left Shepard, Vasir and Dr Chakwas along with the sleeping Asari to enter next, making for a rather tight fit.

There was a whole platoon of CDF troopers, including a squad of Asari Huntresses in form fitting light armour, along with multiple assault shuttles waiting nearby.

"I'm Lieutenant Karsis, is this the package?" A Turian officer walked to meet them and saluted when she approached.

"That she is." Shepard nodded and reflexively returned the salute. "Are you expecting trouble?"

"Command doesn't want to take any chances." Lieutenant Karsis answered. "We've been instructed to provide you with transport to the Citadel Tower as well." She pointed to one of the waiting shuttles. "Another platoon should be here momentarily to secure and process the captured Geth equipment you've been able to recover."

As they talked, the LT send Shepard the necessary identification codes confirming that she was genuine. Still, double and triple checking never hurt anybody, especially when the powers that be were still very much busy searching for traitors and compromised personnel.

"I've been made aware of those arrangements. We have the salvage secured and ready for transport." Shepard said. "Shall we go?"

"Please, follow me, sir." The Turian offered a bird-like sharp nod and headed for the shuttles with her soldiers falling in around them in a lose protective formation.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

A Turian aide led the Spectres into a small, comfortable conference room, where they found Councilor Sparatus waiting for them. The Turian Councilor sat at the far end of a long table surrounded by two stacks of data-pads.

"Vasir, Shepard." Sparatus gave them a shallow nod. "There have been some developments since you headed back. I'll go over those pertaining your primary mission first. Our agents had linked both Saren and Benezia to various corporations they've been using to fund their activities. Of especial interest is an operation on Noveria conducted by Binary Helix – those two together have controlling interest in said corporation. We've been unable to conclusively figure out what they're dealing with there. All we know for certain is that it's biological in nature, it might even be the process used to compromise Saren and Benezia. That will be your next assignment – go there, poke around, figure out what is happening at the Binary Helix compound, retrieve any relevant data and shut down the operation." Sparatus rattled out.

"You didn't call us here just to brief us, Councilor." Vasir pointed out the obvious.

"Of course not." Sparatus scoffed. "Considering the opposition you faced at Therum, we won't be sending you alone. A frigate pack will be ready to escort you in and we're gathering a Cruiser task force to follow you in. However, until our fleets are fully mobilized and deployed, available mobile assets are currently scarce. The Alliance is busy conducting reconnaissance in the sectors mentioned in the data you recovered and their scouts have detected traces of Geth activity, which needs to be shut down. That brings us to your second potential lead – six hours ago the Alliance lost contact with their colony on Feros, which is build in an abandoned Prothean city. A frigate is en route to investigate and in case they find any trace of Geth, or even, better, Saren, you'll be heading there spearheading a joint Council-Alliance task force. Politics being what they are, it won't be prudent to send you there leading only elements of the CDF, or worse, the Turian navy." Sparatus scowled at that. "Captain Anderson will be briefing you on the details once we're done. The official reason you're here is for a debriefing. There will be a meeting between flag officers from the Council Navies and the Systems' Alliance and they will have questions about your experience against the Geth."

"Everything we know is in our reports, sir." Shepard stated. This sounded like a dog and pony show, a colossal waste of time in other words.

"It can't be helped. At any rate, you won't be leaving until we have a liaison ready to accompany you to Noveria. There are potential political and economic considerations to take into account. Ideally, you'll get in and do your job without ruffing too many feathers, thus the liaison.

"And if the Corporate Authority doesn't want to play ball?" Vasir inquired.

"You'll have a frigate pack and their marines to back you up with the cruiser task force I already mentioned on call. While not ideal, if it comes to it, you'll do what you have to, Spectre."

"I'm obviously missing something." Shepard said.

"I'll fill you in later on the glorious mess that is Noveria and the Corporate Court they're part of." Vasir sounded less than pleased.

"They're useful, most of the time." Sparatus grudgingly admitted. "That said, sometimes they get delusions of grandeur and need to be slapped down."

"Noveria and other Corporate Court administered places are generally the hellholes where everyone conducts deniable experiments in basically everything too useful to disregard, yet not quite legal in Council Space, your people included." Vasir explained.

* * *

**=DC=**

**Part 6**

**=DC=**

* * *

**26.04.2183GS**

**Citadel Tower**

**The Citadel**

Shepard wasn't pleased that his prediction panned out – the meeting with the brass turned out to be a mutual waste of time. All he had to do was answer innate questions, which were already covered in the AARs the _Normandy's _crew sent while en route to the Citadel. It didn't help that many of said inquires pertained the naval side of the engagement, which really wasn't his domain. Either Presley or the Turian CO of the CDF task force at Knossos would have been much better suited for this.

The only silver lining was Captain Anderson's appearance at the tail end of the meeting and his former CO wasted no time in getting him away for a briefing at the first opportunity.

"Thanks you skipper," Shepard exclaimed in relief the moment they got away from prying ears. "If this is the kind of meetings you have to suffer now, I don't envy you."

"You don't know the half of it, Shepard." Anderson said tiredly and ushered him into a small briefing room. The place was barely large enough for half a dozen people to sit around a round table, which took up most of the space in the compartment. "We've got issues, Shepard." Anderson nodded at one of the chairs and sat heavily in another.

"That much I gathered. More political complications?"

"Damn straight. I understand you'll have your share of them at Noveria. We've got our own. Parties, currently unknown, leaked classified information about your deployment at Therum, complete with a spin making our navy as incompetent as possible. While your cooperation with the CDF did reassure a large percentage of the population, it also infuriated a minority, which is too big for anyone's control. It doesn't help that various fringe parties are doing their best to pour fuel on the fire and then, there's Terra Firma, whose newest stunts are making even our oldest colonies uncomfortable. They're basically lobbying that we seal Sol in order to safeguard Earth and damn the consequences." The Captain explained in exasperated voice. "As if that's not enough, the demands for our navy had skyrocketed, again and it was already stretched thin to begin with."

"How does this affect my mission?"

"As far as your trip to Noveria is concerned? That's no issue. If there's actually fire to be put down on Feros In the current political climate we can't let you go without the navy meeting one for one any commitment the CDF makes, which is going to be tough. In fact, the same goes for any deployment of allied ships in our territory. I haven't seen the full picture yet, however I know for a fact that the Alliance Intelligence Service is freaking out and requesting a free reign to go after certain subversive elements in the colonies."

"That's insane!" Shepard blurted out. He was aware that N7 operatives and Alliance Intelligence did go after certain troublemakers if they went out of hand, however declaring an open season to anyone who didn't toe the party line? Because that was how it sounded reading between the lines of what Anderson just told him.

"It hasn't really hit mainstream media, however many Extranet sites monitored by AIS show disturbing trends. I've been hearing rumours about a potential insurrection forming under the guise of local militias arming and training themselves in order to better withstand pirate, slaver and Geth incursions. There are calls to form new militias on our oldest colonies as well."

"This is happening too fast. The Geth hit Eden Prime just a few days ago." Shepard stated. "It takes longer for something like you describe to form."

"That's just it, Shepard. As far as AIS is concerned, the trend isn't new, it has been simmering under the surface since the Blitz. Now it's simply coming to a head. What's worse, those people are suspected to be receiving unofficial support by elements both within the government and military. In that regard, time and your primary mission permitting, we'll want you to investigate certain locations. Your contact about said mission will be Admiral Kahoku, he's currently on the Citadel, right here in the Tower in fact. You should talk with him before leaving for Noveria."

"No pressure then." Shepard grimaced. Frankly, he had hard time believing what the Captain was telling him. On the other hand, he was a spacer brat who spent most of his life before enlisting on various ships and stations, while his parents were shifted from one assignment to another, so what did he know about how the colonists really felt? While thinking about his parents, he hoped his mother would be all right – she was the XO of the Orizaba and was likely to be seeing action sooner rather than later.

"Just another day as an N7 and a Spectre. You're supposed to do the impossible before breakfast now and go deal with the really hard jobs before lunch."

"You know, Vasir swore to shoot the next person who mentioned anything about Blasto…" Shepard smirked. "I didn't take you for a fan."

"I'm not, but a few friends are and dragged me to watch that mess." Anderson shook his head at that thought. "But we digress. I didn't call you here just to tell you how important it is not to fuck up. You've got some paperwork to go over – that was what I've been dealing with over the past day. There was a bureaucratic snag concerning the status of the _Normandy _and her crew. It's more or less straightened out or it would be once you're done filling up some forms." The Captain explained and switched on his omni-tool.

"What snag?"

"The kind that listed you all as no longer being part of the Navy, so you and your people wouldn't have been able to procure supplies nor receive pay."

"What!?"

"That was my reaction as well." Anderson said dryly. "It's more or less fixed now."

"Joy. I hope whoever is responsible was sent somewhere cold and lonely." Shepard bit off a curse. That was simply embarrassing Humanity has been pushing to get a Spectre for years now and for such a fuck up to happen the moment it got one…


	22. Chapter 6 Part 1 & Interlude

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.**

* * *

**=DC=**

**Interlude: Historical Notes 1**

**=DC=**

* * *

_The arrival of the Systems' Alliance on the galactic stage upset the political, military and economic balance. Humanity was young, controlled a small portion of space, the bulk of its population and industry was still contained in the Sol system. Humans have been space faring for less than a century by that point, veritable children making their first steps on the galactic stage. By all means that should have meant that the SA would have been no more than a curiosity and a footnote in galactic history in the following centuries. _

_The reality of the situation was different. While the Humanity was indeed young and inexperienced, it found itself in a most curious and dangerous position. True, it had smaller population than any Council aligned species with the exception of the Drell, yet their numbers weren't so small that to drown compared to most Council Associated species. The Hanar, Volus and Elcor, who had been part of the galactic community for centuries by that point, had roughly comparative numbers and in two cases, economies in the same ball-pack. _

_The Hanar had one of the most advanced economies in Citadel space, that much was true. It was also one of the smallest, with the bulk of their population concentrated on their home-world. Their military was anemic at best, with the Illuminated Ascendancy relying on an extensive automated defense network, which made their home system one of the best defended in the galaxy. On paper, that put them in a similar position to the SA during first contact, however while Humanity went on a break-neck colonization__ spree, which soon led to an unprecedented economic boom, the Hanar kept to their ways. _

_The Elcor… While their economy was very well developed by the Systems' Alliance arrived on the galactic stage, it was also small, something almost universally shared between the various Council Associated species. By the time of the Eden Prime attack, the Elcor's economy was only slightly larger than Humanity's and that was with the setbacks that the Skyllian Blitz and constant pirate attacks caused to by raiding and ravaging Human colonies. Experts were sure that the SA's economy would be equal to if not outpace the Elcor by late 2184. _

_That left the Volus, who had the fourth largest economy at the time, and for all intents and purposes had only one thing holding them back from a Council seat in their own right – the fact that due to their physiology and psychology they found it very hard to impossible to meet the military obligations required for a species to be considered for a Council seat. _

_In comparison, Humanity had only a fraction of its population serving in the military, an economy enjoying tremendous growth, a fast expanding navy, and a colonization spree the likes of which no one had seen since the aftermath of the Rachni Wars. Is it no surprise that the SA was often called a sleeping giant in the decades post First Contact? _

_In a few short decades, the Systems' Alliance found itself on a fast track towards a Council Seat, a fact acknowledged by the Council itself in the months preceding the Eden Prime attack, which led to the inclusion of Lieutenant Commander Shepard into the ranks of the Council Spectres. A surface read of the situation would have seen a Humanity on the rise with the future looking brighter than ever. Unfortunately, the rapid economic growth fuel by an uncontrolled colonization spree exacerbated certain problems that were plaguing the Systems' Alliance since the day of its inception and created new ones. The rapid growth and recognition by the Council won as many friends and allies as enemies within Citadel space itself. It also placed the Systems' Alliance on a direct collision course with the Batarian Hegemony, which never c__e__ased its attempt to undermine and weaken Humanity by any and all means possible. _

_Most perilous of all, it wasn't only external dangers that plagued Humanity..._

**_From Forward into the Fire: The Rise and Fall of the System__s'__ Alliance_**

* * *

**=DC=**

_In the later decades of the twenty first century CE, the Turian Hierarchy had been struggling to meet all its commitments, a fact that had been causing a growing resentment among multiple successive Primarchs on Palaven. While the Turian Navy had the largest war-fleet bar none in the galaxy, its commitments were great as well. The Navy had to protect Turian Space as a matter of course, keep a large and powerful detachment as a part of the CDF stationed at the Citadel, it was responsible for the bulk of the forces patrolling the borders with Terminus Space and the Batarian Hegemony and to top it all, it had task forces and flotillas keeping eyes on all all border regions of Citadel Space, especially those containing known dormant relays. _

_For the Turian Hierarchy, the Relay 314 incident turned out to be a blessing in disguise, a mixed blessing really. While there was some bad blood between certain members of the Turian military and the SA, the truth was that only a small fraction of it took part in said incident and when G__eneral__ Desolas Arterus managed to disgrace himself, those who survived the Human retaliation gained little to no sympathy back home. Indeed, if General Arterus had survived his ill conceived scheme to bring in a new client species under the Hierarchy's protection, he was liable to face a Court Martial on his return in disgrace. _

_To the average Turian, the conduct of the Patrol Flotilla __which__ invaded Human space and consequently faced the brunt of the SA's counter-attack was reprehensible. It flew in the face of the core tenets respected by the Turian society, in fact, Desolas Arterus acted like a caricature of a stereotype instead like a proper Turian. The stain upon Turian honour caused by Arterus more than anything else was responsible for the Hierarchy's push to normalize relation with the young Systems' Alliance, efforts which were largely successful. To make up for the debacle of the Relay 314 accident, the Hierarchy offered to pay for the rebuilding of the human colony of Shanxi, eventually pushed for joint patrols and training in order to erase any existing bad blood between the two species, something that later evolved into technical assistance meant to bring the SA's military fully in line with the technical capabilities expected of a candidate for a Council seat. This initiative was directly responsible for the joint project that created the Normandy Class of Stealth Frigates and led to closer cooperation between the Systems Alliance and the Hierarchy in creating new classes of capital ships better suited to face against new and returning threats…_

**_Die for the Cause: P__relude to War_**

* * *

**=DC=**

**Chapter 6 **

**=DC=**

**Part 1**

**=DC=**

* * *

**22.04.2183GS**

**New Vandenberg**

**Elysium **

Nested in a small valley, on the opposite side of the planet from the capital of Iluria, New Vandenberg was a small town build to resemble various villages and townships on Earth still existing in the Alps. The town's primary purpose was as tourist hub catering to those enjoying mountain climbing and skiing, which were among the primary tourist attractions Elysium had to offer.

One of the largest corporations backing Terra Firma, Cord-Hislop Aerospace, owned New Vandenberg, which made it a logical location for the party affiliates from around the cluster to gather in relative obscurity and meet a few new friends. An unpleasant cold front and associated snowstorm brewing over the region helped ensure that no one would be venturing forth without an excellent reason, offering a further layer of security for the various meetings and discussions taking place in the resort. Among the last to arrive before the storm struck were couple of shuttles proudly displaying the golden chevron that was CHA's logo. They carried a member of the corporation's board of directors, his security detail and a pair of Cerberus agents.

The mayor, slash manager of New Vandenberg was at the landing pad ready to meet them surrounded by a squad of kitted out security, all wearing hardsuits with the distinctive CHA's logo as well. Miranda Lawson got out of the shuttle with the grace of a cat and with a nod of acknowledgment to the director headed for the five star hotel the landing pad belonged to. A moment alter, a tall, slim figure clad in black armour followed suit and fell a step behind his principal.

Miranda pursed her lips and firmly strangled the sense of unease that this place caused to surface within her chest. She could easily imagine her father being here, now. He did love his damn skiing after all. Well, the bastard was back on Earth probably designing himself a new heir, or worse. And even if he was here, the only thing she had in common with the woman Henry Lawson knew was her build. The wonders of modern cosmetics and a few detachable implants meant that for this visit, Miranda was a tall busty blonde who no one would recognize as the daughter of that man without a deep scan… and she had counter-measures installed along with the shield harness built into her dress.

She entered the hotel and slowed down for a few moments, enjoying the warmth after the bracing cold that hit her the moment she stepped out of the shuttle, before she confidently marched on, deliberately adding a swing to her hips.

Today she was Sara Lombardi, an entrepreneur of Italian origin who was sympathetic to Terra Firma's cause and was a known critic to the System Alliance's policies. The alias itself was as real as it got, with a Sara Lombardi existing. She was a Cerberus agent from their financial wing. While the real Lombardi had a good head for business, the less said about her clandestine experience the better, thus the need for Miranda or another double to take over in the rare cases when it was required.

The operative glided into one of the three small and cozy conference rooms the hotel had and smiled when everyone's eyes fell upon her figure. She made her way to the front row of seats and sat in one of the few empty ones, while her bodyguard melted into the shadows nearby.

The aging, balding man on the small podium cleared his throat and after giving a long, evaluating look to Miranda, loudly cleared his throat to get back the attention of the gathered Terra Firma sympathizers.

"Eden Prime is a proof that the System Alliance is bought and paid for! Humanity's so called leadership is on the beck and call of aliens, putting their interests before our own!" The man spoke with conviction, making sharp gestures to reinforce his point. "What's worse, that atrocity showed us once again that the Alliance has no capability, neither intention to protect Earth's colonies! Every single one of us is thus left to the non existent mercy of the alien!"

Grumbles of approval echoed throughout the room and Miranda nodded eagerly, looking at the man as if she was captivated by his every word.

"They even dare to use one of our best, The Lion of Elysium himself, as a smoke screen! Where are the fleets going after Saren? Where are the fleets striking against the murderous machines that laid waste to Eden Prime?! I'll telly you where they are! They continue to protect alien interests, uncaring that a _Human _garden world still burns!"

Miranda had to give him that much, appearance notwithstanding, the speaker had charisma to spare. It was less exactly what he said it, but how he did it, that demanded your attention and called you to listen. Ever since first contact there were thousands, perhaps tens of thousands loudly selling similar hatred and blaming everything on the alien. Some of them put forth much better arguments, however the great majority of those people lacked both the oratory skills and charisma to pull it off. While Jerome Cameron wasn't the sharpest, he had charisma to spare and answers people wanted to hear. All he lacked was a good makeover, professional staff and access to resources, something that Cerberus was eager to provide through the CHA and private citizens like Lombardi, and her associates.

"Today we have some special, like minded guests." Cameron beamed at the crowd. "Let me introduce Ms Sara Lombardi!" He waved at Miranda who beamed at him and stood up to eagerly smile at the various colonial Terra Firma representatives.

"I'm glad for the opportunity to be here and pledge that while the Alliance as a whole might have failed every single one of you and the people you care about, you aren't forgotten. The people of Earth haven't forgotten you neither did we turn our backs on you and your problems!" Miranda declared in a voice ringing with as much conviction as Cameron's own. "We're aware of the danger you live in on the colonies, we know that you and the worlds you settled represent the future of Humanity and we're doing our best to help! Unfortunately, no matter what we do, the Alliance as a whole doesn't listen." Miranda looked down, allowing an expression of extreme distaste to flash over her face. "That is why, myself and various concerned citizens are ready to finance your defense so you're better prepared to face against alien predations! And we aren't alone. Not all corporations are made equal, not all of them were eager to sell themselves and humanity as a whole to the aliens for credits and luxuries!"

She smiled, blushing when the gathered men and women surged to their feet in applause. The blush itself was real, and was caused in no small part by disbelief that it was so easy to play them all like fiddles. Then again, most of them weren't among the brightest of were simply desperate, grasping for any way for their concerns to be heard and their problems, especially defense ones, addressed.


End file.
